Worcestershire begin to offset departures as Rob Jones arrives from Lancashire

Jones, 27, rejected the offer of a new two-year deal at Emirates Old Trafford to join Worcestershire

Rob Jones has become the first signing of the Ashley Giles era at Worcestershire, with the Lancashire batter set to move to New Road ahead of the 2024 season – and possibly earlier.

Jones' arrival offsets a fortnight that has seen the seam-bowling trio of Josh Tongue, Dillon Pennington and Pat Brown all confirm their departures at the end of their current contracts, while highly regarded batter Jack Haynes is also expected to move on.

Jones, 27, rejected the offer of a new two-year deal at Emirates Old Trafford to start afresh at Worcestershire; only last week, he made a fine hundred for his home county in an ultimately unsuccessful fourth-innings run-chase against Essex.

Giles, who only began as Worcestershire's chief executive at the start of July, described Jones as "a really good and adaptable cricketer" and "a fantastic young man who will add to our dressing room".

^{Jones played 109 times for Lancashire (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)}

Mark Chilton, Lancashire's director of performance, added that Lancashire had "made it clear that we saw him as an important part of our plans moving forward" but that he had decided to move on, with Lancashire also confirming that Jones wouldn't feature in their first-team plans for the rest of the season as they look to the future.

The two counties are in communication "as to what the remainder of Rob's season entails".

Chilton added: "Rob has been an extremely popular member of the dressing room and has always given 100 per cent for the Red Rose. We thank him for his services and wish him all the best with his new chapter at New Road."

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