BEN Allison has signed a one-year contract extension with Essex.

The new deal will keep the 22-year-old bowler at the club until the end of the 2023 season.

It has been a positive year for right-arm fast-medium bowler Allison, who made his first-class debut for Essex in April.

Allison continued to make his breakthrough into the first team this year with 11 appearances in first-class and List A cricket.

This included taking 10 wickets across nine games during the Royal London Cup, as the Eagles reached the semi-final stage of the competition.

Essex head coach Anthony McGrath said: “Ben impressed us with his Championship performances before Peter Siddle joined us at the start of the season, especially his half-century against Durham which helped us to win the match.

“He will be an important option for us next season and I’m looking forward to watching him compete with Sam, Jamie and Shane for a place in the side.”

Allison is one of a trio of Essex academy graduates to sign new contracts with the club with Josh Rymell also signing a new deal along with Feroze Khushi.

And McGrath is looking forward to the trio developing further in the years ahead.

He said: “The bedrock of this club has always been built on the talented youngsters coming through the academy, so to have three players of this calibre commit their futures is fantastic.

“I know it was a proud moment for Josh to make his Essex debut this year and to go on and score a maiden century made it even more memorable.

“This experience will prove invaluable next season where I hope he can make many more contributions with the bat.

“Feroze found his red-ball opportunities hard to come by this year due to the depth of talent we have in this squad but I’m looking forward to him pushing hard for his spot in the starting 11 next season.

“The Royal London Cup provided a great opportunity for our young players, so having Josh and Feroze come into the first team and hit big hundreds was great to see.”

In a season that saw him make his debut for the club, Rymell has signed his first senior professional contract with a two-year deal until 2023.

The 20-year-old batsman featured across all three formats this season but it was in the Royal London Cup where he impressed most, hitting his maiden Essex century against Yorkshire Vikings.

His high score of 121 runs contributed towards 331 runs in the competition at an average of 55.16.

Khushi has committed to a one-year extension to his current contract, which extends his time with the club until the 2023 campaign.

The batsman lined up mostly for the second team in 2021, featuring in seven of the eight Championship games.

The 22-year-old also made his Royal London Cup debut this year, scoring 109 in his first appearance against Durham at Emirates Riverside.

He went on to make a further five appearances for the Eagles in the competition, scoring 234 runs at an average of 46.80.