Shafayat rejoins Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire have announced that Bilal Shafayat has rejoined the club in a three-year deal.

Shafayat, 22, is a former England Under-19 captain and began his career at Trent Bridge but moved to Northamptonshire in 2004.

Northants announced earlier this week that they had agreed to release the player so that he could be closer to his family.

He said: "During the season I tried to focus on my cricket, but once that had finished and I had time to sit and reflect, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be closer to my family in Nottingham.

"I am grateful to Northants for agreeing to my release and am glad to have been able to return to Trent Bridge and the county where I grew up.

"Now that I've signed, I can't wait to start working again with Mick (Newell), Paul Johnson and the rest of the players. I'm really excited about playing at my home ground next season and continuing to improve as a cricketer."

Nottinghamshire coach Newell is pleased with the recruitment: "Under different circumstances, I don't think he would have left in the first place, but he has definitely had more opportunities to play first-class cricket than we would have been able to offer him, and I'm sure that will have helped him advance his game.

"His talent has always been clear and I see him becoming a top quality number four in the end, but he does also offer the option of wicketkeeping in one-day matches if Chris Read is not available."

Shafayat has so far failed to live up to the rich promise he showed as a youngster, scoring 75 on his County Championship debut in 2001 as a 17-year-old. In 2003-04 he toured with England A, but has a first-class average of only 31.61 from 61 matches. He scored 885 runs in the County Championship in 2006 at 32.88.

He will take his place in a new-look Nottinghamshire top-order as the county rebuild following relegation in 2006. They have signed Will Jefferson from Essex and Mark Wagh from Warwickshire while Will Smith has joined Durham.