Nottinghamshire left-hander Billy Root, the brother of England Test captain Joe, has signed for Glamorgan.

Despite having one year left to run on his current deal, Root played little first-team cricket in 2018, and with Notts’ signings of Joe Clarke, Ben Duckett and Ben Slater, that was unlikely to change next summer.

The 26-year-old batsman was released early from his Trent Bridge contract to allow him to join the Welsh county.

Root began his career on the Yorkshire academy before signing a professional deal at Notts.

“I’ve had a brilliant few years with Nottinghamshire and made some great memories here,” he said. “I’d like to thank them for giving me my first opportunity in professional cricket.

“I feel the time is right to embark on a new challenge and I’m excited to see what the future holds at Glamorgan.

“When I spoke to Hugh [Morris, Glamorgan director of cricket] he talked a lot about the club’s strategy to develop a young and exciting team and it’s something I’m really excited to be part of.

“Last season wasn’t a great one for the club but there is a lot of talent here and I believe I can make a big contribution to the side over the next few seasons and help us push for silverware in white-ball cricket, while we look to improve our results in the County Championship.”

Glamorgan finished bottom of the County Championship with 10 defeats in 14 matches in Division Two, finishing last in the One-Day Cup and not getting out of the T20 Blast group stage.

The Welsh county were also last in the 50-over tournament and failed to qualify for the T20 Blast knockout stages.

Morris said: “We are thrilled to secure the signing of Billy Root for the next two seasons. Over the course of the campaign it became apparent we needed to supplement our batting stocks and in Billy we have signed a player who is still young but has experience playing Division One cricket and is hungry to succeed.

“He can play across all three formats which makes him an ideal signing for the club and he will be a fantastic addition to the dressing room.”

“We’re sad to see Billy go but understand that he wants more regular playing opportunities, something which has been hard to come by over the past year,” Nottinghamshire director of cricket Mick Newell said.

“He has the ability to play in all three formats, as he has shown during his time with us and I am sure he will relish his new challenge with Glamorgan.”