Four Nottinghamshire players sign contracts

Four key members of Nottinghamshire¹s promotion-winning team have agreed one-year contract extensions to keep them at Trent Bridge until the end of the 2004 season.

Fast-bowling opening duo Andrew Harris and Greg Smith, fellow seamer Richard Logan and experienced left-handed opening batsman Darren Bicknell have all agreed similar deals.

Two other promising fast-bowlers, 20-year-old Nadeem Malik and 24-year-old left-armer David Lucas have also put pen to paper on new two-year contracts.

Notts Cricket Manager Mick Newell was delighted to complete his contract negotiations and said: "Both Harris and Smith proved to be tremendous new ball bowlers last season, claiming well in excess of 100 wickets between them. I'm very happy to be going into our first season in the top division of the Championship opening up with those two.

"Logan is a vital part of the squad who took some crucial wickets for us last summer and has the potential to become a very fine bowler indeed, while Bicknell offers a wealth of experience and has the ability to score heavily at the top of the order."

He added that he was also expecting big things from Lucas and Malik in 2003 describing them both as "very important members of the squad".

"Malik has showed a lot of promise in 2001 and at the start of 2002 and now he is free from England Under-19 commitments, I'm looking for him to have a major impact for Notts," continued Newell.

"Lucas is a tremendous talent whose career has been held back by injuries. But we hope he is over those now and we¹re looking forward to him fulfilling his immense potential."