DAN Housego will relish the responsibility of taking a role as a senior batsman after quitting Middlesex to sign a three-year deal with Gloucestershire.

The 23-year-old, who spent time with Gloucestershire's Academy before moving to London, re-signed for the county last week with the promise of playing an integral part in an inexperienced squad.

And the challenge of rising to expectation and performing week in week out in all three forms of the game will act as a spur to Housego ahead of his first season at Nevil Road.

"I was at Middlesex for five years at a time the club when the club had a lot of experienced cricketers and about 29 players on the staff, so it wasn't easy to get into the first team," he said.

"I'm told there are only 15 or 16 in the Gloucestershire squad at the moment so it will be an entirely different environment and I have signed because I hope to play a lot more first-team games.

"I have a little bit of experience at top level and I hope to bring that to the team, along with a determination to improve my own game."

Housego has already been earmarked to fill the problematic number three slot in the batting order by Gloucestershire's director of cricket John Bracewell.

An opener by trade, the talented sportsman, who played England age-group cricket while also linked to the Oxford United football youth set-up, said he could bat anywhere in the top six.

Housego also said that he was looking forward to developing his skills in the white-ball game after seeing his opportunities limited to four-day cricket with Middlesex.

"I am happy to bat in any position and hope I can play in all forms of cricket," he said.

"My preference is the four-day game, but I also enjoy T20 and 40-over cricket.

"You have to be able to hit the ball hard in the modern game and I can do so when necessary.

"I spent the early part of this winter in Australia, playing Grade cricket for South Perth for three and a half months, and I got a century in my last game, so I can't wait to join up with Gloucestershire for pre-season.

"The team did well in the Championship last season and only just missed out on promotion, so I think we will have every chance of going up this time around.

"I played for Middlesex in the Championship game against Gloucestershire at the County Ground last season and was very impressed with their young team. I look forward to becoming part of it."