STUART POYNTER has left Durham after a seven-year spell with the club.

The former Ireland international played across all formats for Durham and captained the club in the T20 competition in the 2019 season.

He scored 1,132 first-class runs for Durham, which included a career-best 170 against Derbyshire in 2018.

“Stu will leave us this winter following seven years with the club,” confirmed Durham director of cricket Marcus North. “He has been a popular and valuable member during this time, and we wish him all the success in his future endeavours.”

Five of Durham’s youngsters have signed full-time deals with the club ahead of the 2022 season.

Jonathan Bushnell, Harry Crawshaw, Luke Doneathy and Tom Mackintosh have all signed rookie deals for the first time, while Oliver Gibson has signed a one-year contract extension.

All five of the players have progressed through Durham’s youth set-up before making their academy and second XI debuts in recent years.

Crawshaw and Doneathy are two of the club’s academy graduates to have made their first-team debuts in the 2021 season, with Doneathy featuring in both the Royal London Cup and Vitality Blast and Crawshaw making his debut in the Vitality Blast against Northamptonshire.

“This group of young players have had a successful journey through our pathway and academy and deserve their opportunity to join our professional squad,” said North. "We are excited to see them develop further during the next 12 months working exclusively with the professional squad.”