James Taylor signs with Leicestershire until 2012

Leicestershire have confirmed that batsman James Taylor has signed a three-year contract extension and will remain with the county till the end of the 2012 season.

Leicestershire chief executive David Smith said he was "delighted that James had signed a new contract". "He has been through our age-group system and started playing for Leicestershire Under-11s in 2002," Smith said. "This is exactly the young-player development pipeline that the club is trying to produce and sustain.

"Following James' success last season and inclusion in the ECB winter training and development camps, we wanted to give James a new contract that reflected his outstanding performances in both four-day and one-day cricket last season."

Taylor was named the Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year, after a prolific 2009 season, in which he scored 1177 first-class runs in 16 matches at an average of 58.85. That haul included three hundreds and six fifties, with a highest score of 207 not out against Surrey at The Oval in July.