Yorkshire fended off competition from a division one rival to secure the services of Jacques Rudolph for the last six County Championship matches of the season.

The 30-year-old returns to Headingley in time for the Roses meeting against Lancashire on July 20, and will play further matches against Hampshire, Sussex, Warwickshire twice and Somerset as well as six Clydesdale Bank 40 fixtures.

Rudolph relinquished his status as a Kolpak player, which he held for four seasons from 2007, last September to return home for a variety of reasons.

Not only did he want to make himself available to add to 81 appearances at international level, there were also family reasons involved.

But, following a two-month break between the end of April and the end of June, he was keen for a return to regular cricket on the back of five one-day matches for South Africa A in Zimbabwe.

Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale said: "I'm good friends with Jacques, and I was in contact with him throughout the winter and during the start of the summer.

"He needed some time away. But, after a couple of weeks, he's the sort of guy who starts twiddling his thumbs and wants to play some cricket again.

"He's had his commitments with South Africa A, but he's available soon.

"Speaking to him over the last few weeks, he's been eager to come back here. I know another county were in for him as well, and it would have been disappointing to see him in any other colours.

"He wanted to come back to Yorkshire. His heart's always been here. He sees us as part of his family, and he was eager to come back straightaway. There's no better person to bring in than Jacques."

Rudolph topped 1,000 Championship runs in each of his four seasons as a Yorkshire Kolpak player, and he scored a total of 2,463 runs in all competitions last year.

With finances still a concern at Headingley, the current Nashua Titans captain has agreed to return to the club on a cut-price deal.

"We've definitely missed his runs this year," continued Gale. "2,500 in all comps last year was great for us. It's very hard to replace that sort of cricketer in your side.

"We wanted to give our young lads the chance to stand up and perform, to see if they could do it without Jacques as well. There was also a financial point of view to that as well.

"Saying that, most of the younger lads have done well. It's been the senior lads who haven't backed them up."

Although Yorkshire's chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Friends Life t20 competition are not realistic with three matches left, they are not mathematically out of the equation. The first of those is against Durham at the Riverside tonight.

Gale added: "If we can get two wins over the weekend, it will give us some confidence going into Monday (against Worcestershire in the Championship at Scarborough)."