Surrey County Cricket Club have announced the return of Rory Hamilton-Brown, who has joined as club captain on a three-year contract.

Hamilton-Brown, 22, a graduate of the highly renowned Pemberton Greenish Surrey Academy, has regularly captained England at age group level and will be captaining a talented young squad, the majority of whom are under the age of 25.

After spending his formative years with Surrey, Hamilton-Brown made his first-class debut against Bangladesh A in 2005 before playing nine One Day matches for the Club. He left in the winter of 2007 to spend two successful seasons with Sussex and has now returned to Kennington to lead the new dawn of Surrey Cricket alongside Professional Cricket Manager Chris Adams.

Hamilton-Brown has spent the past month in South Africa where he is a member of the ECB England Performance Programme, a scheme designed to identify the England players of the future. The experience of leadership and regular first-class cricket he will receive at Surrey will only aid his desire to perform for his country at the highest level.

Speaking after signing his contract, Hamilton-Brown said: “It has taken a considerable amount of soul-searching to reach this decision and I’d like to place on record my sincere thanks to Sussex for the fantastic support they have given me and their understanding of my final decision.

“I leave the club with great memories and the club, the players and the coaches have played a major part in my development as a player.

“It’s no exaggeration to say that returning to Surrey as captain is the dream of a lifetime for me personally as well as a massive honour and a huge responsibility. I will make sure I fulfil the confidence that Surrey and specifically Chris Adams have shown in me and I am determined to help bring the club success in the future.” Adams, the Surrey Professional Cricket Manager – and formerly the most successful county captain in the modern game – said: “To me, captains have to have certain attributes such as charisma, a galvanising spirit, intelligent and tactical brains and the ability to inspire people to follow them – Rory Hamilton-Brown has these in abundance.

“When I flew to South Africa to meet him I was sure that the addition of Rory to our squad will give us stability, unity and strong leadership for many years to come and enable us – for the first time in two years – to provide consistent leadership on the field of the play.

“I am confident that the return of Rory Hamilton-Brown to Surrey at the start of a new decade will come to be seen as a defining moment in the turnaround of this Club.”

Paul Sheldon, Chief Executive of Surrey County Cricket Club, concluded: “The two Clubs have always enjoyed an excellent relationship and we are most grateful to Sussex for their co-operation during the last few weeks.”

A chronology of past Surrey captains: C.H. Hoare (1846-1850) F.P. Miller (1851-1857) F. Burbridge (1858 – 1865) E. Dowson (1866) W.J. Collyer (1867) C. Calvert (1868) S.H. Akroyd (1869-1870) J.C. Gregory (1871) G. Strachan (1872-1875) A. Chandler (1876) G. Strachan (1877-1878) A.P. Lucas (1879) J. Shuter 1880-1893) K.J. Key (1894-1899) D.L.A. Jephson (1900-1902) L. Walker (1903) Lord Dalmeny (1905-1907) H.D.G. Leveson-Gower (1908-1910) M.C. Bird (1911-1913) C.T.A. Wilkinson (1914-1920) P.G.H. Fender (1921-1931) D.R. Jardine (1932-1933) E.R.T. Holmes (1934-1938) H.M. Garland-Wells (1939) N.H Bennett (1946) E.R.T. Holmes (1947-1948) M.R. Barton (1949-1951) W.S. Surridge (1952-1956) P.B.H. May (1957-1962) M.J. Stewart (1963-1972) J.H. Edrich (1973-1977) R.D.V. Knight (1978-1983) G.P. Howarth (1984-1985) P.I. Pocock (1986) I.A. Greig (1987-1991) A.J. Stewart (1992-1996) A.J. Hollioake (1997-2003) J.N. Batty (2004) M.A. Butcher (2005-2009) R.J. Hamilton-Brown (2009- )