Somerset wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter has followed Marcus Trescothick by signing a new three-year contract with the club.

Earlier this week former England star Trescothick put pen to paper on a deal that ties him to the county until 2012.

And now Bath Chronicle columnist Kieswetter has done likewise although Trescothick believes there is a good chance the youngster will step up to international cricket in the near future.

The South Africa-born 22-year-old qualifies for England in February, two months before the World Twenty20 in the West Indies.

New captain Trescothick said: "Craig is one of our brightest prospects in the club. I don't expect to see him here throughout the next few years. I think he will disappear pretty quickly, which does make it tough for us."

Kieswetter, whose mother is Scottish, has made rapid progress since joining the club in 2007 after appearing in the Under-19 World Cup for South Africa.

Proteas skipper Graeme Smith recently said he hoped Kieswetter would return to the South Africa fold – a notion that the Johannesburg-born big-hitter quickly dispelled.

Kieswetter has spent the last month training and playing with the England Performance Programme in the country of his birth and could be selected for the England Lions trip to Pakistan next spring.

A quick senior call-up is very possible. England selected another South Africa-born batsman in a Twenty20 international before he was really ready in 2007. But the move prevented the Proteas from selecting Jonathan Trott and he is now a fixture in Andrew Strauss' team.

Somerset's move to tie down Kieswetter long-term pre-empts future interest from one of the Test match-hosting counties.

Director of cricket Brian Rose said: "You have to be very careful these days.

"We have seen the market change in the last two or three years. We have seen how Test match counties like Surrey and Warwickshire are very aggressive in the market place because they have greater (financial) clout."

Kieswetter said: "I am delighted because I feel very passionate about the club and want to be involved at the County Ground.

"I love playing at Somerset and it's a fantastic place to be with all the tradition that there is about the place."

"The supporters and the whole environment at Somerset make it a place that I want to be part of.

"I am only 22 now which is quite young to be (county) capped so I am very excited about what I can do to help to develop the club and move it forward to be one of the dominant forces in the country."