Fast bowler Amjad Khan to leave Kent

Amjad had played one Test and one Twenty20 international for England

Pace bowler Amjad Khan is to leave Kent when his contract expires at the end of the season.

Amjad, 29, moved to Canterbury in 2002 and played his only Test for England on the 2009 tour of the West Indies.

"These are financially difficult times and we are not in a position to make Amjad a meaningful offer," said Kent chief executive Jamie Clifford.

Amjad added: "Ideally I would have liked to have continued my career with Kent but it is not to be."

He continued: "I sympathise with Kent's off-field financial pressures and know that the key people wanted me to stay.

"I look forward to new challenges with renewed vigour and believe I have what it takes to put myself back in the England frame."

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Copenhagen-born Amjad represented Denmark at the age of 17 and took 63 wickets in his first full season at the St Lawrence Ground.

He failed to recapture that form in the following seasons but 55 scalps in the summer of 2005, coupled with being granted British citizenship in 2006, earned him a place in England's academy squad.

His first call-up to senior side came as cover to the one-day squad in India in 2008, but the Mumbai terror attacks brought the series to a premature end.

Amjad eventually made his England Test debut the next year in the Caribbean, again as a late addition to the squad, but after playing in the sole Twenty20 international he was forced to miss the one-day series with a cartilage injury.

The last recognition from the selectors came in October when he was named as category 'A' player in the England performance squad - one of four players deemed to be closest to breaking into the England side.

This season, Amjad's 38 victims makes him Kent's leading wicket-taker in first-class cricket, but he has fallen behind the likes of Steven Finn, Ajmal Shahzad and Tim Bresnan in the England pecking order.

This has been a very hard decision, however we believe that it is the right one given the financial context

Kent chief executive Jamie Clifford

"Amjad has been with the club for nine seasons and we are very sorry to see him leave," said Clifford.

"This has been a very hard decision, however we believe that it is the right one given the financial context.

"I am sure the club's members and supporters will join me in thanking Amjad for all his efforts and wish him the very best as he moves on."

Kent captain Robert Key added: "It is disappointing that the club couldn't offer Amjad a contract that would have seen him stay.

"He has been a pleasure to play cricket with over the last nine seasons and I have no doubt that our loss will be another county's gain. I wish him the very best."