WORCESTERSHIRE have completed their second signing in two weeks with batsman Riki Wessels penning a three-year contract until the end of the 2021 season.

The 32-year-old moves after seven seasons at Nottinghamshire and follows bowler Wayne Parnell, who also joined for three years, in strengthening the County’s ranks for next summer.

Right-handed Wessels, who can also keep wicket, was released from his contract at Trent Bridge in order to head to Blackfinch New Road.

Highly-rated England Lions international Joe Clarke, 22, also a batsman-wicketkeeper, has already gone in the opposite direction after leaving Worcestershire.

Wessels said: "“Leaving Nottinghamshire was a difficult decision to make.

“I’ve spent eight years at Trent Bridge and enjoyed being part of successful teams that challenged for trophies but now is the right time for me to make a change.

“Worcestershire will provide a new challenge and I’m really looking forward to starting another chapter of my career at a club that I have a lot of admiration for.”

Worcestershire will bid to make an instant return to County Championship Division One in 2019 after their relegation and continue to make a big impact in the Royal London One-Day Cup and also the Vitality Blast which they won this year.

Australian-born Wessels, who obtained British citizenship in 2016, has a fine record in first-class cricket but is also a destructive hitter in the white-ball format.

County fans saw Wessels hit nine sixes in making 55 for Notts in the Vitality Blast at Blackfinch New Road this summer.

Wessels, who played for Northamptonshire before joining Nottinghamshire in 2011, has scored 10,740 first-class runs at an average of 36.04.

He has amassed 4,452 List A and 4,689 T20 runs at averages of 30.70 and 29.12 respectively.

Wessels, who hails from Queensland but grew up in South Africa, has played in the Big Bash T20 competition in Australia for Sydney Sixers.

He is the son of former Australia and South Africa international Kepler Wessels.

“We’d like to thank Riki for his contribution to the side over the many years he’s spent here at Trent Bridge,” said Notts director of cricket Mick Newell.

“However, both parties feel that now is the right time for a change and for Riki to move on. We wish him luck for the future.”