BREAKING: Star batter Emilio Gay to leave Northants at end of season

The left-handed opening batsman has turned down the offer of a new contract to stay at Wantage Road, and will now ne heading for pastures new in 2025, although which club he will be joining has yet to be revealed.

Gay has been with the club since he was 15, and is a product of the County's Talent Pathway programme.

The 24-year-old made his first team debut in 2019, and has gone on to score 2,786 first-class runs for the club at an average of 35.71, scoring six centuries and 13 half-centuries.

This summer he has enjoyed his best season yet, hammering 860 runs at 61.42, including a career-best score of 261 against Middlesex in April, and he has added a further hundred and four half-centuries.

In all, the Bedford-born batter has hit more than 3,750 runs across all formats for Northants, having also hit a century and three 50s in List A matches.

A club statement read: "Northamptonshire County Cricket Club can confirm that Emilio Gay will be leaving the club at the end of the season.

"Having offered a new contract to Emilio, the club are naturally disappointed that he has chosen to move on but would like to thank him for all his contributions to the County and wish him all the very best for the next chapter of his career."

Gay is now set to sit out the rest of the Steelbacks Metro Bank One Day Cup matches, but will be available for selection for the Vitality County Championship when it resumes later this month.

Northants are back in action on Friday when they travel to Chester-le-Street to take on Durham.