New Delhi, March 30 : Durham have signed Australia's left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann for their upcoming County Championship season. Kuhnemann's arrival to Durham comes as a replacement for his countrymate, off-spinner Todd Murphy. Durham said in an official statement that it had initially engaged with Murphy for the 2023 County Championship season, but he was deemed unavailable for the first block of County Championship matches. Depending on clearance from Cricket Australia, the club added that they are still hopeful Murphy will join the Club following the Ashes, while adding that Kuhnemann will remain with Durham throughout the 2023 season and will be available for the County Championship. The 26-year old Kuhnemann made his Test debut against India in the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at New Delhi in February this year. In the series, he picked nine wickets in three matches, including a maiden five-wicket haul in Australia's nine-wicket victory in Indore in March. "I'm really excited to be joining Durham for the upcoming county season. I look forward to playing with some world class players and contributing to some wins for the club throughout the summer. I can't wait to get over there and meet everyone," said Kuhnemann. Since making his first-class debut in 2021, Kuhnemann has made 12 appearances for Queensland claiming 33 wickets with a best of 5/25 and bagging three five-wicket hauls. He is also part of the Brisbane Heat side in the BBL where he has 27 wickets to his name in the shorter format of the game. "We are very excited to have secured another exciting young spin talent in Matthew Kuhnemann. Matt impressed in India for Australia and is in a great place with his game, we are really looking forward to him joining us next week and seeing him perform in the County Championship," said Marcus North, Director of Cricket, Durham. "We were keen to bring in a spinner that will enable us to further strengthen and balance our Championship side and with the signing of Matt, that now helps us to be effective in all conditions. We are obviously disappointed that Todd Murphy will not be joining in the early part of the season as planned, but we look forward to welcoming him to the Club later in the summer," he added. /IANS