Batsman Joe Denly will return home to Kent in 2015.

The 28-year-old Kent Cricket Academy graduate will re-join the club after agreeing to end his three-year stay at Middlesex a year early.

Denly is delighted to rejoin his native county after agreeing to end his time at Lord’s a year early.

Speaking on his return, Denly said: “It’s great to be coming home. As I said at the time, it was a difficult decision to leave Kent but I don’t regret the experience I had at Middlesex.

“I'm leaving a very good club with great people from the back room staff, team and management and wish them all the very best, but now feels like a great time to return.

“There’s a lot of familiar faces still here and plenty of talent coming through from the Academy and I’m looking forward to helping them in any way I can and help build a successful future.”

The right-hander is a graduate from the original Kent Cricket Academy intake and made his Kent debut aged 18 in 2004.

He was the first Kent scholar to play first-class cricket and made the step up to international cricket, playing nine One-Day Internationals and five T20s for England in 2009-10.

Denly says an international recall is far from his thoughts as he focuses on the new season for Kent.

He said: “Every player dreams of playing for their country and I’m proud to have done that but I need to focus on making runs at county level and earning my place in the Kent team first.”

Denly has scored almost 7,000 first class runs at an average of 33.1 and was the first Canterbury-born player to be capped for Kent.

The former Chaucer Technology College student was the first Canterbury-born player to be capped for Kentwas widely tipped for a return to the Spitfire Ground in recent weeks before his contractual situation was resolved.

Chairman of cricket Graham Johnson said: “I remember when Joe decided to leave the club we talked about his possible return to Kent.  

“As a player, who had come through our development system all the way up to represent England, he has kept his Kent roots.

“That such a return has been possible says much about the potential of the club right now and is also, in no small measure, a tribute to the way two county clubs can work together for the betterment of the game as a whole.

“My thanks go out to Middlesex in what they have done to make this move possible.

“To get Joe back is great.

“He is an extremely talented player in all forms of the game who, at the age of 28, has many seasons to come at a time when his experience suggests his best years are ahead of him.”

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