Alex Wakely has resigned as captain of Northamptonshire in both red-ball and white-ball cricket with immediate effect.

His decision ends a period in which the club won the domestic T20 title twice - making Wakely the first captain in Northants' history to lift two major trophies.

Under Wakely's leadership, Northants became one of the most popular T20 sides in county history as a heavyweight squad attracted growing admiration.

Off the field, he encouraged a relaxed and inclusive atmosphere which helped to revive a small and financially-stressed county, and by doing so turned the club into one of the happiest in the country.

Adam Rossington will take charge of the side for the Specsavers County Championship match away to Durham next week, with Josh Cobb leading the Vitality Blast campaign.

"It's been an honour and a privilege to captain Northamptonshire over the past few years but now I feel it's time for someone new to have that honour," Wakely said. "It's not a decision I've taken lightly. I've deliberated long and hard with family and friends for several weeks."

A product of Northamptonshire's academy and England's captain in the 2008 Under-19s World Cup, Wakely took charge of the one-day side in 2013 whilst also becoming vice-captain under Stephen Peters in the Championship.

That summer saw the Steelbacks claim the T20 honours at Edgbaston and also achieve promotion to Division One in four-day cricket for the first time in a decade.

After missing the entire 2014 season through injury, Wakely was appointed captain in all formats in 2015. The following season, despite continuing financial constraints, Northamptonshire repeated their T20 triumph in Birmingham.

In 2017 the team responded to Wakely's insistence that they were 'fed up with being average' in the Championship and surprised many observers by logging nine victories in 14 games (the club's second-highest percentage of wins in the competition, exceeded only in 1995) and sustaining a promotion challenge through to the final day of the campaign.

But those standards have begun to fall away and Wakely's disillusioned comments after another bad day with bat or ball had become increasingly common, culminating in an innings defeat against Glamorgan at Wantage Road.

He led the side 198 times in all formats (a figure surpassed only by Geoff Cook, Jim Watts and Allan Lamb) and his tally of 20 first-class victories ranks him as one of the club's top ten most successful skippers in the longer game since 1905.

"Wakers is one of the best blokes in cricket, nobody has a bad word to say about him, said head coach David Ripley. "His captaincy record is there for all to see: trophies in the bag. I look forward to seeing him go on for many years as a player where he still has loads to offer."

Northamptonshire's chairman Gavin Warren said: "Alex led the team during a period of financial challenge. He will go down in the history books as one of our outstanding leaders."