Craig Spearman looks set to exit Gloucestershire County Cricket Club 12 months ahead of schedule.

Contracted until the end of the 2010 season, the 37-year-old New Zealand-born batsman is ready to call time on his first class career after suffering a dramatic fall from grace.

Once regarded as Gloucestershire's most effective performer at the top of the order, Spearman's influence has waned since he was struck a fearsome blow on the head by South African paceman Johannes van der Wath in a Twenty20 Cup fixture against Northants in July last year.

He announced his comeback at the start of the 2009 campaign, but has not featured in the first team in any form of the game since Derbyshire beat Gloucestershire in a County Championship match at Cheltenham in mid-July.

Spearman was at the height of his powers when compiling a mammoth 341 against Middlesex at Gloucester in 2004 to eclipse WG Grace's previous highest score for the county.

In the past two seasons, though, he has played just 11 Championship matches, scoring 379 runs at an average of 22.

Director of cricket John Bracewell may have been responsible for bringing his fellow New Zealander to Bristol in 2002, but he has recently stressed the importance of bringing on a clutch of young Academy products, leaving Spearman to plough a lonely furrow in the seconds.

Gloucestershire's continuing faith in young openers Will Porterfield and Rob Woodman and the emergence of England Under-19 batsman Chris Dent as a first-team prospect suggest Spearman could be paid off this winter.

Meanwhile, Jon Lewis, Steve Kirby and James Franklin are likely to be rested for Gloucestershire's floodlit Pro40 match against Yorkshire at Headingley on Thursday, ahead of next week's crucial County Championship clash with Glamorgan.