Australian international Adam Voges will rejoin Nottinghamshire as their overseas player for 2009.
The batsman spent part of last season at Trent Bridge while fellow Australian David Hussey was unavailable.
The signing of Voges, 29, means Hussey's time at the club comes to an end but director of cricket Mick Newell hopes that is only temporary.
"I'm not saying it's the end forever," he told Radio Nottingham. "Hopefully David can come back to us one day."
However, Newell stressed the need for continuity. "With the international commitments of Samit Patel and Graeme Swann, I felt we needed some stability in the overseas player.
"Its very difficult to get a player who you can guarantee will be there from the middle of April to the end of September - and Adam is one of those players who can give us that commitment."
And Newell added that the re-signing of Voges was a popular decision with the rest of the Nottinghamshire squad.
"We talked to a lot of the players and they were happy with Adam, both his contribution as a player and as a bloke in the dressing room," he confirmed.
"We like to try to form relationships with overseas players over a period of time. I think it's dangerous to have people coming in and out.
"It doesn't do well for team spirit and the player doesn't have a feeling for the club either."
Voges notched a County Championship batting average of 34.37 last season and Newell is confident he can achieve more at Trent Bridge, given a little time.
He said: "I feel with another year at Trent Bridge, when he's more used to English conditions, more used to English bowling, then hopefully we can get a bit more out of him in four-day cricket, and something similar in the one-dayers."
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