TURNING his back on Test cricket for South Africa in order to begin a new career with Yorkshire was one of the hardest decisions which he has ever had to make says Jacques Rudolph.

The left-hander joins up with the Tykes in late March on a three-year contract.

Although 25-year-old would be eligible to play for his country again once his contract with Yorkshire as a Kolpak player is over, he could well target an England place if he and his family feel settled in Yorkshire.

With rumour circulating back home about the depth of his commitment to Yorkshire, Rudolph has re-iterated that he believes his future lies in England.

"I have signed a long term contract with one of the biggest counties in English cricket and this was really important to me because I wanted to commit myself not only to Yorkshire but to English county cricket," he said.

"I have given up the right to play for my country in order to turn out for Yorkshire as a Kolpak player and this was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make.

"I will miss playing for South Africa but I honestly feel that my future lies in England and I am grateful for the opportunity which both county cricket and Yorkshire have given me.

"When Yorkshire first approached me I looked at the county, their history and their success over the years and then I looked at how they are developing younger players like myself. I couldn't wait to sign."

Explaining why Yorkshire had gone for Rudolph chief executive Stewart Regan, said: "We wanted a quality international standard player but one that was young enough to grow with the county and become a part of our long term future.

"Having briefed an agent to assist us in our search, our first request was to find out whether the player was prepared to commit to us for the long term. That was a hard call for a young player to make but Jacques has made it and we are delighted to have him on board."

Yorkshire have almost certainly ended their search for new players with the signing of Rudolph but they are still mulling over who to appoint as first team captain and it may be a few weeks longer before a final decision is made.

They have two or three options which they are seriously considering and one of them is whether to hand the captaincy to Australian paceman, Jason Gillespie, who has bags of experience at international level.

One person definitely not in the reckoning, however, is Pakistan batsman, Younis Khan, the main reason being that he will miss the first few weeks of the season because of the World Cup.

Yorkshire are not certain to have a new director of cricket development on board by the beginning of the season but once they have appointed their man they may seek his views over the captaincy.