Nottinghamshire have signed former Oxford University paceman Toby Pettman 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 protégé can bring to the Green and Golds.

“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.

“Now he’s finished his studies and we get the chance to look at him full time, we’re hoping we can unlock his best qualities.”

Having juggled cricket alongside graduating with a First Class Honours Degree in Classics, Pettman has been working hard on two fronts.

Now, the youngster 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% to cricket is something I’ve not been able to do previously in my life.

“I tried to squeeze out as much as I could from the chance across the summer to work with the coaches and bowl against some high-quality players.

“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.”

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