FORMER Gloucestershire skipper Alex Gidman has made the shock decision to leave the club at the end of the season and join neighbours Worcestershire, writes Rob Iles.

Gidman has put pen to paper with the LV= County Championship Division Two leaders until the end of the 2016 season.

Younger brother Will has already announced his departure from Gloucestershire – he is to Nottinghamshire.

Gloucestershire chief executive Will Brown said: "We would like to thank Alex for the huge amount he has contributed to Gloucestershire cricket since making his debut for the club back in 2001.

"We fully appreciate his desire for a fresh challenge at this stage in his career and wish him the best of luck with Worcestershire."

Comfortably the club’s longest serving player, Gidman is also the only remaining member of the last Gloucestershire side to win silverware – the C&G Trophy in 2004.

He was captain between 2009 and 2012 and has also led the side on many occasions this season in the absence of Michael Klinger.

The 33-year-old only this week scored a career-best 264 for Gloucestershire against Leicestershire at Bristol.

He also impressed Worcestershire director of cricket Steve Rhodes when making 145 in Gloucestershire's win at New Road in the championship last month.

Gidman has scored 23 first-class hundreds and 57 half-centuries and amassed 11,000 first-class runs at an average of more than 36.

Rhodes said: "If you look at some of the recent innings he has played, they have been quite outstanding.

"One of them was against us but also to get 260-odd in the current game against Leicestershire is a fantastic achievement.

"We are getting someone who is in the best form of his career.

“We have been looking for a middle-order player with experience who our young players can play around and learn from.

"At the moment our experienced batters are Moeen Ali and Daryl Mitchell and with Moeen’s potential future England commitments increasing, to have Alex as another experienced senior batter only be a benefit.”