Young Leicestershire trio sign on

Leicestershire batsman Josh Cobb acknowledges his mammoth 220 for England Under-19s earlier this year

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Three of Leicestershire’s brightest young talents, Josh Cobb, Greg Smith and Nathan Buck, have signed new three-year deals to keep them at the club until 2012.

Cobb, 19, now has one-and-a-half seasons of first team cricket under his belt and will be looking forward to stamping his mark in the middle order.

He had a mixed 2009, scoring just 510 runs for Leicestershire in first-class cricket, though he did smash 220 in an Under-19 Test against Bangladesh .

Opening batsman Smith had fewer chances last season, but the departure of Boeta Dippenaar and HD Ackerman should afford the 21-year-old more chances at the top of the order.

He will continue to combine cricket with his studies at Durham University.

Buck, an 18-year-old seamer, wins a place of the full-time county staff for the first time. He played a handful of first-team matches for the county last year.

Buck is currently preparing for the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, fresh from leading the line for England Under-19s in Bangladesh earlier this winter.

Buck said: “It’s nice to finish school and concentrate 100% on cricket. I am looking forward to the World Cup and then getting stuck in here.

“I enjoyed every minute of last season. Looking back on it now, I can see it was a great experience and I learnt a lot from it. It’s now a case of pushing things forward.”

Leicestershire chief executive David Smith said: "I'm delighted that Josh, Greg and Nathan have signed new contracts with the club.

"They have all been through our development system. Josh started playing for Leicestershire U11s in 2002, Greg in 2000 and Nathan in 2003.

"This is exactly the young player development pipeline that the club is trying to produce and sustain as we are totally committed to producing players through our development system."

There has been plenty of post-season activity at Grace Road, with former England bowler Matthew Hoggard arriving to captain the side, and Australia all-rounder Andrew McDonald due to serve as overseas player for the season.

The Foxes have also been in talks with Brad Hodge to bring the Australian in as the second overseas player for the Friends Provident t20.

Buck said: “I can’t wait to work with Matthew. He’s a talented bowler and has played a lot of games for England. It’ll be a great experience to learn from him.

“Having a bowler as captain will be good, I guess he’ll be more understanding when things aren’t going your way as a bowler. Things are looking up and I can’t wait until next season.”