Nottinghamshire sign paceman on one year deal

Nottinghamshire have signed former Oxford University paceman Toby Pettman on a one-year deal.
Toby Pettman has joined Notts on a one-year deal.Toby Pettman has joined Notts on a one-year deal.
Toby Pettman has joined Notts on a one-year deal.

The 22-year-old was initially talent spotted by Paul Franks and Kevin Shine at Loughborough University as part of a Centres of Excellence trial.

The 6ft 7ins bowler, who has 33 wickets in seven First-Class games at 21.15, was invited to train with the Notts squad throughout the 2020 season, going on to make his second team debut.

After a summer of working with Pettman, Assistant Coach Shine is excited about the qualities his protége can bring to Nottinghamshire.

“We’re looking to make the most of his accuracy, height, bounce and lateral movement, and we will see where it goes from there,” said Shine.

“It’s an exciting signing because we’ve found him a little later and we’ve backed that up with a thorough approach.

“We’ve looked at his First-Class statistics, we’ve seen him in matches and practice and he’s a young lad with a lot of potential.”

Having juggled cricket alongside graduating with a First Class Honours Degree in Classics, Pettman is determined to make the most of his opportunity as a professional.

“It’s enormously exciting,” said Pettman. “I’m eager to see how far I can go.

"To have the opportunity to commit 100 per cent to cricket is something I’ve not been able to do previously in my life.

“I’m not setting myself any expectations at the moment.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

“Obviously it would be great to challenge for a first team spot during the season, but I know there is a lot of hard work ahead of me to get to that stage.”