Worcestershire's director of cricket Tom Moody has made another signing in his bid to re-shape the county's playing resources for the 2002 season. After signing the established Leicestershire batsman Ben Smith last month, he has now secured the services of Surrey off-spinner Gareth Batty on a three-year contract.

The 24 year-old Batty, born in Bradford, made his first-class debut for Yorkshire in 1997 after playing for the England Under 19 team. He left Yorkshire to move to Surrey for the 1998 season, but found little opportunity to play first-class cricket. Nevertheless, he was named as the ECB Second XI cricketer of the year last season.

Moody said: "Gareth is a very talented cricketer and he's had invaluable experience at Surrey under the likes of Saqlain Mushtaq and Ian Salisbury. We are lucky to get him at this point in his career because he is ripe for the picking. It was only the lack of first-class opportunity that made him think twice about where he was in his career."

Batty's elder brother, Jeremy, was also an off-spinner and useful batsman. He appeared for England Under 19s and Yorkshire before moving to Somerset, but is no longer playing first-class cricket.

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