Worcestershire have confirmed that Simon Jones will not been offered a contract extension beyond the end of the current season.
The injury-stricken paceman was hoping to been given another chance to prove himself at New Road having been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee problem.
However, the luckless Ashes 2005 hero will be forced to look elsewhere after the Pears decided against taking a gamble on the Welshman.
Worcestershire could now be set to press ahead with their attempts to sign Jones' former England team-mate Matthew Hoggard after 28 days' notice of approach was given to Yorkshire at the end of last month.
On the subject of Jones, Worcestershire's director of cricket, Steve Rhodes, said: "This has been a difficult decision but is in the best interests of the club going forward. We all admire the effort that Simon has put in to regain full fitness and we know he is determined to be fit for the 2010 season.
"However we are not in the position to offer him a new contract going forward so he is free to talk to any other county about his future. We want to thank Simon for his contribution to the club's success in 2008 when his 42 wickets at 18.02 helped us secure promotion to division one and we really do hope that he can win his fitness battle and resume his career."
Worcestershire appeared to have pulled off a major coup when they signed Jones from his home county of Glamorgan last summer. However the injuries that have plagued the seamer's entire career refused to go away and the 30-year-old now faces the challenge of finding another county who will put faith into his unpredictable body.
