Ravi Patel has agreed a one month loan deal with Essex to play in the County Championship, all but ending Monty Panesar's career at Chelmsford.
The spinner has had an injury hit season and has dropped behind Ollie Rayner in the pecking order at Lord's.
Former England spinner Panesar has had off-field problems over the past few years and has not played for his country since the fourth Ashes Test of the 2013/14 series nor for his county since April. He has fallen so far from grace he has only made four second XI appearances since then.
Middlesex managing director of cricket Angus Fraser said: “Middlesex CCC is more than happy for Ravi to go on loan to Essex to play first-class cricket. Ravi's early season injury has so far prevented him from playing a huge amount of red ball cricket for Middlesex CCC this season and we only have one LV=CC match in the next month.
“This agreement could get him two first-class outings and the experience will do him good.”
“Ravi will remain available to play white ball cricket for Middlesex CCC during this period, so he will be able to play in our two remaining NatWest T20 Blast games and all our Royal London One-Day Cup matches.
“Middlesex CCC have also reserved the right to recall Ravi for LV=CC cricket if his services are required by Middlesex”.
Patel was happy to get some playing time for Essex and is keen to develop away from Lord's.
He said: “I would like to thank both Angus Fraser and Paul Grayson for giving me this opportunity to play some four day cricket for Essex and help develop my skills.
“It will be a great opportunity to improve as a cricketer and hopefully I can put in a few good performances for Essex.”
“Since returning from my thumb injury I haven’t had many opportunities in the longer format of the game, so this will undoubtedly help my game moving forward.”
