Shahid Afridi and Glenn Maxwell have both been named in Hampshire’s 15-man Royals squad for the ICC Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa next month.

The pair replace Neil McKenzie and Simon Katich from the side that won the English t20 in Cardiff last month, as the pair had already qualified with South African outfit Highveld Lions and Australian Big Bash League side Perth Scorchers respectively.

Otherwise, the squad includes the other nine players who beat Yorkshire Carnegie by 10 runs to lift the Friends Life t20 trophy at the SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff last month as well as members of the squad who have represented Hampshire in other competitions this season.

Manager, Giles White said: “We’re absolutely delighted that Shahid and Glenn have elected to join us for the ICC Champions League Twenty20 competition.

“Glenn had the opportunity to go with the Delhi Daredevils having played for them in the Indian Premier League but has chosen to play for us so we’re very happy about that.

“Both he and Shahid have proven themselves to be valuable additions to the squad in recent years and will be more than able replacements, albeit fulfilling slightly different roles, for Neil McKenzie and Simon Katich.

“Apart from them, the squad will include a lot of the talented young players that have come up through the club’s Academy and helped us win the domestic Twenty20 trophy twice in the last three years.

“I know the squad are very excited by the opportunity to play in the Champions League and are looking forward to the challenge of playing in South Africa. This is the biggest stage an English County can play on and we hope to do our fans proud.”

The team will travel to South Africa on Friday 5 October. The group stages begin on Tuesday 9 October with Hampshire’s qualifying matches against New Zealand’s Auckland Aces (the team Hampshire batsman, Jimmy Adams played for two winters ago) and Sialkot Stallions of Pakistan scheduled for Wednesday 10 October (12:30 UK time) at Centurion and Thursday 11 October (16:30 UK time) at Johannesburg respectively. All matches will be shown live on British Eurosport.

One team from each of the groups will qualify for the competition proper, beginning on Saturday October 13 at Centurion.

Eight sides have already qualified directly for the main rounds of the CLT20. They include defending champions Mumbai Indians, current IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils (all India) as well as Sydney Sixers and Perth Scorchers (from Australia's Big Bash League) and Titans and Lions (South Africa).

Cape Town, Johannesburg, Centurion and Durban have been named as venues for the tournament.

Royals squad: Shahid Afridi, Jimmy Adams, Sean Ervine, Liam Dawson, James Vince, Michael Carberry , Michael Bates, Dimi Mascarenhas , David Griffiths, Danny Briggs, Chris Wood, Glenn Maxwell, Kabir Ali, Hamza Riazuddin, Bilal Shafayat