Wainwright looks to resurrect career elsewhere as Yorkshire put faith in a Ballance of promise

The left-arm spinner has exercised a clause in his contract which allowed him to leave if he was not getting regular first-team opportunities.

Wainwright’s decision, which had been widely anticipated, comes after he was selected only 29 times in first-class cricket during the past eight seasons.

It will leave many supporters wondering what might have been, with Wainwright having produced many telling contributions in all forms of the game – not least when he twice helped save Yorkshire from County Championship relegation with key performances in fixtures against Sussex.

In 2008, Wainwright scored an unbeaten 104 from the No 10 position to help Yorkshire recover from 80-6 to 400-9 declared in the match at Hove. Then, in the corresponding game in 2009, he scored an unbeaten 85 from No 9 and took nine wickets in the match.

In total, the 26-year-old scored 914 runs in first-class cricket for Yorkshire at 36.56 and took 69 wickets at 35.94.

In addition, Yorkshire have released pace bowler Ben Sanderson, 22, and all-rounder Lee Hodgson, 25, neither of whom have been able to command a regular place.

Off-spinner Azeem Rafiq, 20, hopes to advance his first-team claims after signing a two-year contract extension, while batsman Gary Ballance, 21, has also signed a two-year extension after some outstanding displays in his first full season.

Yorkshire have offered similar deals to batsman Joe Root, 20, and pace bowler Moin Ashraf, 19, and hope both players will shortly commit their futures to the county.

The club have awarded junior professional contracts to batsman Alex Lees, 18, and seam bowler James Wainman, 18, along with summer deals to batsman Callum Geldart, 19, seamer Alex Lilley, 19, and wicketkeeper/batsman Dan Hodgson, also 19.