Former Kent and England star Joe Denly is expected to complete a return to the club in the next 10 days.

Denly departed Kent at the turbulent end of the 2011 season - in which he was the only Kent man to pass 1,000 runs - to join Middlesex.

The 28-year-old has however scored just 1,829 Championship runs in the past three seasons and while he is understood to have a year remaining on his Lord's contract, reports in the national media suggest he will be allowed to switch back to his former employers before the end of the month.

The Whitstable-raised star came through the ranks with Kent, joining as a 13-year-old and representing each age-group side before making his First Class debut against Oxford University in 2004.

The former Chaucer Technology School, Canterbury, pupil also impressed for England under-19s and captained the ECB Development of Excellence XI before making his mark with Kent in 2007 with a campaign which earned him an England Lions call-up.

In 2008 and 2009 Denly proved particularly impressive in limited overs cricket and earning a call-up to the England ODI squad to face Australia in August 2009 before going on to make nine ODI and five T20 appearances wearing the Three Lions, his last coming in February 2010.

At the time of his departure, Denly - who has amassed more than 12,000 First Class and 19,000 career runs - said: "A large part of me is very sad to be leaving Kent. As a local lad who's come through the system I expected to play my whole career here."

Denly - currently on holiday - was unavailable for comment, while a Kent Cricket spokesman said of the rumour: "It's just speculation."