Sangakkara joins Surrey for 2015 season

London, Jan 16 (IANS) English cricket county side Surrey Friday confirmed the signing of Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara.

"He is a five-star player and person and that is important because he will be working with our homegrown players," Alec Stewart, director of the county club was quoted as saying by bbc.com Friday.

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Sangakkara previously played county cricket for Warwickshire and Durham.

"He is the number one Test batsman in the world but it's the special character that he has which is as important to us," Stewart added.

Sangakkara is currently the top-ranked Test batsman and fifth all-time highest run scorer in the longest form of the game.

The left-handed batsman is also the fourth highest One-Day Internationals (ODI) run-scorer with 13,414.

The 37-year-old is to retire from ODIs after the impending World Cup.