Dawid Malan has joined Yorkshire on a four-year contract, ending his long association with Middlesex two years early.
The 32-year-old opening batsman Malan will link up with his new team-mates at the end of this month when he returns from New Zealand, where he is touring with England's T20 side.
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Malan stepped down as Middlesex captain of two years at the end of the 2019 season in which the club reached the knockout stages of both limited-overs competitions but won just three of their 14 Championship matches to finish eighth in Division Two. Named Middlesex Player of the Year, Malan had originally signed a contract to stay at the county to the end of 2021 before requesting a release and his move to Yorkshire was announced on Monday.
"I have had 13 happy and successful seasons with Middlesex, and I will always be grateful to the staff, players and supporters for their encouragement over the years," Malan said. "However, this feels like the right time to embrace a new challenge and I am excited by the prospect of joining Yorkshire, one of the great county clubs in English cricket. I am looking forward to moving to Leeds, and starting a new chapter of my career."
Malan, who played the last of his 15 Tests against India at Edgbaston in August 2018, top scored for England with 39 off 29 balls in a 21-run loss to New Zealand in the second T20I in Wellington on Sunday which leveled the five-match series at 1-1.
He has scored 11,229 first-class runs - including 724 in Tests - at an average of 37.31 with 25 hundreds and 58 fifties. Malan was one of only seven players to pass 1,000 Championship runs in 2019 when his tally of 1,005 marked the third English summer in which he has topped 1,000 first-class runs after he also achieved the milestone in 2010 and 2014. He also reached his career-best first-class score of 199 in a draw with Derbyshire in July.
Yorkshire First XI Coach Andrew Gale described Malan as "a fantastic signing" as the club looks to boost its batting which has largely been carried by the likes of Gary Ballance and Adam Lyth in recent times.
"As soon as we realised that Dawid had the potential to leave Middlesex, he was a player that we always wanted to speak to," Gale said. "He fits the mould of what we are looking for. It is fair to say that we have lacked consistency with the bat for a number of years.
"We have looked at bringing people in for a while, but it had to fit the right mould for us. We needed somebody with experience and Dawid has got Test experience. It creates a selection headache for us all. We feel that we need competition for places to push the lads who have been in the team for the last couple of years and to give us more depth. I think that Dawid gives us that."
Angus Fraser, Managing Director of Cricket at Middlesex, said: "Dawid has been an invaluable member of the team for 13 seasons, scoring runs consistently across all three formats. His loyalty and commitment to Middlesex has been without question.
"It is sad that he has now decided to continue his career elsewhere, but he will always be recognised as a modern Middlesex great and everyone associated with the club will wish him every success in the future."