Hodgkinson leaves Nottinghamshire

Richard Hodgkinson has left Nottinghamshire in pursuit of first-team cricket. The seam bowler Hodgkinson, 21, didn't feature at all in the Championship this summer, and he played just once in the Totesport League, where he took 1 for 42 against Worcestershire.

"With the senior bowlers we have here and Charlie Shreck and Paul Franks looking to return to contention, Richard would have been a fair way down the pecking order," Wayne Noon, the second XI coach, told Notts' website. "He wanted to try his luck elsewhere." "I would like to be playing first team cricket at this stage of my career," said Hodgkinson, "and although it was a tough decision to leave Trent Bridge, hopefully it will turn out to be the right one.