Former England batsmen sign for new clubs

Essex have signed Jason Gallian, the former England opening batsman, for next season from Nottinghamshire. Gallian has turned down the chance of first division cricket next season to play the senior role at a county that has struggled for runs this season. With the retirements at the start of the season of Andy Flower, the England batting coach, and Ronnie Irani, Essex have been deprived of experienced batsmen who made 2,500 runs between them last season.

The regular loss to England duty of Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara has also left the county's batting looking frail and heaped pressure on the young captain, Mark Pettini, whose form has suffered. It has been two months since Essex last made 300 in the first innings of a championship match. Gallian, who played three Tests in 1995, has turned down an approach from Glamorgan to join Essex. His place at Nottinghamshire was under threat from the impressive Samit Patel and Will Jefferson, who ironically left Essex last season in frustration at the lack of opportunities.

Also moving clubs is Usman Afzaal, who has signed for Surrey. Afzaal is another former Notts batsman, although he has been at Northamptonshire for the past three seasons. He has only played eight games this season, scoring 570 runs at an average of 36, but says that he hopes that another change of club will enable him to reboot his England career, which amounted to three Ashes Tests in 2001. Good luck to Afzaal, who is one of the nicer blokes on the circuit, but he should be wary: scoring stacks of runs at Surrey has not helped Mark Ramprakash's hopes of an England recall.