Steelbacks Captain Josh Cobb has signed a 2-year contract extension, keeping him at Northamptonshire until the end of 2022.

Cobb was the Steelbacks’ leading runscorer in the 2019 Vitality Blast and was named T20 Player of the Year at the Club’s End of Season Awards in September, an award he’s taken home 3 times in the past 4 seasons.

“I’m very pleased to extend my stay at Northamptonshire.” Cobb said.

“Last year we showed glimpses of what we are capable of in white ball cricket and I’m looking forward to playing some more of that positive cricket consistently.”

Cobb was named Captain for the club’s white ball sides before last season’s Vitality Blast, a role Head Coach David Ripley said he took in his stride.

“Josh’s always been a tactician of the game, we asked him to go about the leadership side of being captain and setting that bar for the squad with what he says and how he commands himself and he really stepped up in that regard.” he said.

Cobb was quick to pass praise onto the squad and support staff, placing special emphasis on the work happening behind the scenes.

“They’re a great group of lads to lead and to see the graft they’ve been putting into upskilling with the coaches over the winter points to an exciting future.

The Club’s shown great ambition and faith in the leadership group too, particularly with some really strong recruitment so it’d be great to repay them with some entertaining cricket.” he said.

Cobb played an increased role with the ball in the Vitality Blast last year, finishing with one of the best economy rates in the tournament, something that didn’t come as a surprise to Ripley.

“I’ve always seen him as a frontline T20 bowler, he has been for a number of years actually. In some ways it’s not always been that easy to get him on enough with some of the other quality spin options we’ve had.” he said.

“In T20 cricket it’s so much about runs per over and Josh’s always been good at restricting that. He’s taken the responsibility of bowling more overs, a lot of those were in the powerplay too and he came out of it really well.”

The squad now prepare to head on tour to Singapore as preparations for the 2020 season ramp up.