England's Dawid Malan, the No.1-ranked T20I batsman, has signed a BBL deal with the Hobart Hurricanes.

Malan's interest in the tournament had been confirmed during the series against Australia when his consistent displays propelled him to the top of the rankings.

In 16 T20Is, Malan has scored 682 runs at 48.71 and a strike-rate of 146.66 with a top score of 103 not not out while he has another four centuries across his T20 career.

He will be part of what is shaping as a very strong Hurricanes top order. Matthew Wade's availability is likely to be impacted by Test duty, but it will also include D'Arcy Short, Peter Handscomb, Ben McDermott and Mac Wright - the latter making a strong impression when he came into the side last season.

However, Malan's own availability could yet be restricted due to England commitments with a limited-overs tour of South Africa from late November awaiting government sign-off and talks ongoing about a short T20I trip to Pakistan in mid-January.

The original BBL schedule has the tournament starting on December 3 but there is likely to be some change to that amid the reworking of the season.

All the overseas signings for the BBL are currently England players: Liam Livingstone has returned to Perth while Tom Banton (Brisbane Heat) and Tom Curran (Sydney Sixers) had existing deals.