Ricardo Vasconcelos ends speculation with new deal at Northamptonshire

Ricardo Vasconcelos has re-committed to Northamptonshire after admitting that discussions about his future have felt like "a cloud hanging over my head" for the last year.

Vasconcelos became the club's red-ball captain shortly before the start of this season after a falling-out between John Sadler, the new head coach, and Adam Rossington, who has since joined Essex on a permanent deal.

He signed a five-year deal with Northants in 2019 but a clause in his contract would have allowed him to leave at the end of the 2022 season and several counties were interested in signing him, with Somerset understood to have been the front-runners.

But he has now re-signed until the end of the 2025 season, with Sadler suggesting that he could fulfil his long-term ambition to play for England while at Wantage Road.

"It's been a bit of a cloud hanging over my head for about a year now, all the chat about me possibly moving on," Vasconcelos said, "so much so that it's probably affected my performances a bit so I'm glad I can now put that behind me and focus on leading the team and scoring runs.

"I think everyone can see the direction we're going in as a team and I'm very excited to see what the next few years have in store for us."

"It's fantastic for the club that Ricardo has committed to us for the next three seasons." Sadler said. "He's a very fine cricketer who plays all formats and whose ceiling is extremely high. He can now focus purely on his cricket and I'm sure we'll get to see the absolute best of Vasco in all formats.

"He's good enough and has ambitions to play international cricket for England and we want to help him get there."

Northants have also announced that Jack White, the seamer, has signed a new contract, with David Willey confirming last month that he is also returning to Wantage Road. Several other players are out of contract at the end of this season including Josh Cobb, Ben Curran, Emilio Gay, Luke Procter and Ben Sanderson.