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Eddie Chikamhi, Harare Bureau
FORMER Zimbabwe Under-17 cricket player, Nick Welch, has been tipped to be the next big thing at Leicestershire County Cricket Club.

The Harare-born right-hander, who has been based in England for the last five years, signed his first professional contract with the Foxes last week.

Welch also announced he had secured his citizenship in England, which further reduces the chances of him considering playing for Zimbabwe in the future.

“It’s been a memorable week, having finally obtained my citizenship, signed my first professional contract with Leicestershire and making my debut for the club, truly a blessing and a dream come true,’’ he tweeted.

‘’Thanks to my friends and family for their unwavering support.’’

The 22-year-old made his T20 debut for Leicestershire this week, albeit in a losing cause.

The Foxes lost to Durham by six wickets.

He also featured in the second T20 against Derbyshire, which ended in a four-wicket defeat.

But, Welch’s performance with the bat was one of the positives to be taken from the Derbyshire match.

The opening batsman made 32, off 26 balls, including a huge six, over the roof.

The former Mashonaland Eagles man looked assured against pace, in particular, and his attitude thrilled Leicestershire head coach, Paul Nixon.

“Nick is going to be an exciting player for Leicestershire moving forward,’’ said Nixon.

“He’s massively committed, he’s a phenomenal physical specimen who hits the ball very hard, he’s bright and he’s a quick learner. He’s been watching the likes of Adam Lyth and Alex Hales, how they go about the game, he’s taken a lot from that.

“Another few overs of Nick on Tuesday and we’d have been over the line, no question.’’

The last decade has been bad for Zimbabwe cricket, in terms of the talent drain, especially to England.

Accomplished international, players such as Sam Curran and Colin de Grandhomme, developed their game at age-group level in Zimbabwe before moving abroad and representing their adopted nations.

At 22, Curran is already a regular member of the England team, with 19 Tests under the belt and a couple of ODIs and T20Is.

De Grandhomme, who played for Zimbabwe at the 2004 Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh, has shaped his career with New Zealand.

Highly-rated batsman, Eddie Byrom, left the country in 2015, when he was part of the national Under-17 squad, along with Welch.

At the start of August 2019, Byrom was drafted into the middle order of Somerset’s exciting T20 Blast.

He immediately shone with a blistering 54 not out against Surrey on debut.

He has been raking up runs in County cricket.

The 23-year-old batsman has never hidden his England ambitions, after a stellar 2019, where he became a key figure in red and white-ball cricket.

“Growing up in Zimbabwe was really interesting, Cricket wise, it was great, such a sunny country.

“I really enjoyed starting out my cricket there but it got to a stage where I didn’t really see myself going professional. So, I didn’t really want to stay there for too long and I made the move to Somerset,” Byrom told The Cricketer website.

His former Zimbabwe Under-17 teammate Welch made his first-class debut as a 16-year-old for Mashonaland Eagles in 2014.

The side also featured internationals Prosper Utseya, Sikandar Raza, Elton Chigumbura and Mark Vermeulen.

The 22-year old played for the Leicestershire Second XI last season. Welch has plenty of runs to his name not only for Leicestershire but also for Surrey as he appeared for their Second XI in 2019.

Welch also has some first-class appearances to his name for Loughborough MCCU where he played five innings, posting 163 runs in total, a high score of 79 and an average of 32.60.