Reigning young player-of-the-year and bowler-of-the-year Nathan Gilchrist has signed a Kent contract extension.

It caps a great couple of weeks for the 22-year-old bowler, who also this month earned an England Lions call-up for the tour of Sri Lanka.

“I’m a hungry young bowler, always looking to improve and I’m extremely grateful to Kent for the opportunity to develop as a cricketer over the past couple of years,” said Gilchrist, who has extended his stay with Kent until the end of the 2024 season.

“I’ve relished being given the ball during important spells of the game and I feel like I’m beginning to know my game a bit better.

“This season will be all about improving further and, hopefully, establishing myself across all three formats.”

After he joined in 2020, initially on loan, the right-armer has taken 63 first-class wickets in 18 LV= Insurance County Championship matches and now boasts a career first-class bowling average of just 24.82. Overall, he has 92 wickets in 39 matches for the county.

Gilchrist broke into Kent’s first-team in 2021, collecting his maiden five-wicket hauls in both forms of the game, which included 5-38 against Worcestershire in the County Championship.

A member of Kent Spitfires’ squad which won the Royal London One-Day Cup, Gilchrist took three wickets in the final against Lancashire at Trent Bridge to help them to their first List A trophy since 1978.

He then claimed 4-60 in Kent’s next match - a Championship clash at Hampshire - and a new first-class career best of 6-61 against Somerset in Kent’s final Championship match of last season at Canterbury.

Kent director of cricket Paul Downton said: “Nathan has made a significant impact since making his debut for Kent and, over the last two seasons, he has become an integral part of our bowling attack in the County Championship and had an excellent 50-over campaign last summer.

“He came to Kent with a huge amount of potential and through his hard work and ambition Nathan has very quickly become one of the country’s most promising young fast bowlers.

“Nathan’s strike-rate is right up there with the best and, with his dedication and the help of bowling coach Simon Cook, his ceiling is very high.

“We look forward to Nathan taking wickets for Kent for many years to come.”

Gilchrist was born in Zimbabwe and grew up in South Africa before moving to England.