Davies is Somerset bound

Steve Davies, the former England wicketkeeper, is expected to join Somerset after calling time on his Surrey career.

Surrey announced on Wednesday that Davies will leave the club at the end of this season after he turned down a new two-year contract because he wants to revive his wicketkeeping career.

Davies' path to a wicketkeeping role he surprisingly relinquished at the start of the 2014 season is currently blocked at Surrey by Ben Foakes, whose development as a keeper-batsman has made him a possible selection as a back-up wicketkeeper for England's Test tours of Bangladesh and India this winter.

Davies, 30, leaves after 244 games for Surrey in which he has scored 10,635 runs for the club in all formats as well as taking 322 catches and making 36 stumpings. He joined the club from Worcestershire in 2010 and played for Surrey for six seasons. He won the last of his 13 limited-overs caps for England five years ago.

Surrey's praise for his contribution was strangely muted. A statement said formally: "The club would like to thank Steve for his many contributions over the past six seasons and wish him all the best in his future endeavours."

Davies' decision to commit himself to a specialist batting role effectively ended his chances of an England recall, although he remains a stylish left-handed batsman, destructive through the off side, and his century against Yorkshire at Headingley in the Royal London Cup semi-final against Yorkshire at Headingley helped guide Surrey to the final. They will face Warwickshire at Lord's on Saturday.

He made a surprise international debut in a Twenty20 against West Indies in Trinidad in 2009. but was soon replaced by Craig Kieswetter as England went on to lift the World Twenty20 in 2010. He then replaced Kieswetter in the 50-over side and travelled to Australia in 2010-11 as England's first-choice wicketkeeper in limited-overs cricket and back-up to Matt Prior in the Test squad.

But one game into the seven-match ODI that series that preceded the World Cup, Davies was unexpectedly dumped from the team and replaced by Prior who went on to the World Cup and established himself as England's first-choice keeper. Since Prior's retirement, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow have vied for the gloves.

Somerset keeping duties are currently undertaken by Ryan Davies, one of the youngest and most promising county keepers on the circuit, who joined them from Kent a year ago, but whose lack of runs and general inexperience has meant periods in and out of the side.