Dan Redfern comes home to Shropshire
Shropshire have signalled their intent to challenge for honours in cricket's Unicorns Championship next season by signing local lad Dan Redfern.
Shrewsbury-born Redfern, 25, has served Derbyshire and Leicestershire and is the second signing from the first-class game in quick succession.
It comes following the county's move to bring in left-arm spinner David Wainwright, a former Derbyshire team-mate.
Redfern, a former England under-19 international, played for Shropshire from under-10 to under-17 level.
He then scored a century on his senior debut against Northumberland at Oswestry as a 17-year-old in 2007.
He made his first-class debut for Derbyshire a year earlier aged 16 and remained at the club until 2014 when he signed for Leicestershire, spending the last two seasons at Grace Road.
Redfern, a top order batsman and talented off-spinner, is pleased to have signed for his home county.
He grew up at Tibberton, near Newport, and is looking forward to working again with Shropshire's director of cricket Karl Krikken, his former coach at Derbyshire.
He said: "Karl has been a massive influence on me since I first met him when I was a 13-year-old in the Derbyshire Academy. I've got a lot of time for him and I respect him a great deal.
"He's such a good guy, so to have him at Shropshire it felt like a no-brainer for me to sign. I'm really looking forward to playing for Shropshire and working with 'Krikk' again."
Redfern, who averaged just under 30 with the bat in 79 first-class appearances, will also play club cricket for Staffordshire side Leycett.
He added: "I've only played one senior game for Shropshire. I'm looking forward to playing with David Wainwright again and I know a few of the other lads, like James Ralph and Steve Leach.
"I spent time with Steve a couple of years ago at the Darren Lehmann Academy in Australia and he's a good player.
"I think we've got a good side. I know Shropshire finished third in the Championship last season, so hopefully we can go a couple of steps further and see if we can challenge."
Krikken is excited to land Redfern, adding: "It's great that a local lad is coming back to play for Shropshire.
"He's a prodigious talent. I think he will get a lot of runs at this level and he's also a handy off-spinner."
