Director of Cricket Steve Rhodes believes Worcestershire have signed two players of "match winning pedigree" in key New Zealand duo Colin Munro and Mitchell McClenaghan for part of the 2014 campaign.
Hard hitting batsman Munro and left arm paceman McClenaghan have been part of the Kiwis squad competing in the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in Bangladesh.
Rhodes is confident the pair will aid the county's push for honours later in the summer.
Munro, aged 27, will be Worcestershire's second overseas player for the entire span of the NatWest T20 Blast from mid May until August alongside Pakistani spinner Saeed Ajmal.
McClenaghan, who is also 27, will replace Ajmal for a six week period in July and August when he competes in the Caribbean Premier League.
He will be available for three NatWest T20 Blast matches, all eight of the group games in the 50 over Royal London One Day Cup as well as three LV= County Championship matches before Ajmal returns during the second half of August for the remainder of the season.
Rhodes commented "Both Colin and Mitch played in the ICC World Twenty and both have real match winning pedigrees.
"Colin, we came across in Abu Dhabi on our recent pre-season tour and I was immediately impressed with the way he struck the ball against us (in making 47 off 28 balls).
"His strike rate of an equal amount of sixes to fours in t20 cricket shows the way he plays the game and I look forward to him showing some of his boundary hitting to the Worcestershire fans.”
Munro said “I am really excited and delighted to have the opportunity to join Worcestershire for the re-vamped NatWest T20 Blast competition and look forward to putting in some match winning performances.”
With regards to McClenaghan Rhodes said "Mitch will replace Saeed and play three NatWest T20 Blast games alongside Colin to give a real Kiwi flavour to our team.
"He will then play eight Royal London One-Day Cup games and three LV= County Championship games and his aggressive and quick left arm bowling will be important in our push in both competitions.
"I am really looking forward to working with them."
McClenaghan said “the opportunity to play all 3 forms of the game over my 6 week stint will hopefully allow me to make a difference at an important time of the year.
“A full run in all the group Royal London One-Day Cup matches will also give a focus for success while aiming to make telling contributions in both the NatWest T20 Blast and LV=CC matches.”
McClenaghan starred for his country in last summer's ICC Champions Trophy with 11 wickets in three games, including three against host nation England, before enjoying a successful spell with Lancashire in the Twenty20 competition.
He played in all four World Twenty20 matches in Bangladesh and returned figures of 1-22, 0-30, 1-29 and 2-24 against England, South Africa, Netherlands and Sri Lanka respectively.
To date he has played 22 ODI's and 15 T20 internationals.
The hard-hitting Munro featured in the opening two games of the World Twenty20 against England and the Proteas.
He has a strike rate of 130 in T20 international cricket and will bring some explosive fire-power to the top of the batting order to boost Worcestershire's hopes of reaching Finals Day for the first time.
He has played seven ODI's, 14 T20 internationals and one Test – against his native South Africa in January 2013.
