Stone grounded at Northants

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Eighteen-year-old seamer Olly Stone has been rewarded for his fine form with a two-year professional contract at Northamptonshire.

Having made his Twenty20 debut last year, Stone this season earned his first-class and List A bows - the former versus Yorkshire at Headingley Carnegie where White Rose skipper Andrew Gale became his maiden victim.

The Norfolk-born bowler joins other former academy players such as David Willey, Alex Wakely, Rob Newton, Ben Howgego and David Murphy in making the step up to professional level.

Stone said: "It is great news for me and I was very happy to accept the contract offer from Northants. I never expected my season to go as well as it has, and I'm glad to have been given the opportunity to show what I can do for the club.

"I had a fantastic winter after coming back from injury, and that has carried me into this season. The support I have received from everyone here at the County Ground has been fantastic. I can only hope to continue my progress and help Northants be competitive in all forms of the game."

Northants Cricket interim head coach David Ripley added: "We are very pleased Olly has signed. Olly has been with Northants since he was 13, and we have seen him develop as a person and as a cricketer. He bounced back from a stress fracture and has been absolutely fantastic this season.

"The support staff have helped him along the way but Olly deserves this contract after all of his hard work. This is a fantastic outcome for all involved."

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