WORCESTERSHIRE County Cricket Club have swooped to sign former England Under 19 star Nadeem Malik.

The nippy seamer has signed a two-year deal at New Road after deciding his future lay away from Nottinghamshire.

Malik almost arrived at Worcestershire last season but opted to stay on at Notts in the hope of breaking into the first team. Ultimately, after making just two appearances last year, it proved a disappointing campaign and Worcestershire's director of cricket Tom Moody was delighted to snap up Malik second time around.

"The signing of Nadeem is a real coup for Worcestershire," he said. "There were a number of counties after him and we are delighted he is joining us at New Road.

"He has already demonstrated his enormous potential in first-class cricket and I am confident we can help him build on that and become a top class performer."

With Chris Liptrot retiring from first-class cricket, the County were anxious to strengthen their pace bowling department and Malik sees the move as a potential route to the top.

"My opportunities were limited at Notts and this move gives me a chance to break into the Worcestershire team and, if all goes well, stay there," he said.

"I want to go all the way to the top and play for England. There's a lot of work to do before I get there but I think this move will give me a chance to do that.

"Something's working right here at New Road. You only have to look the transformation for Gareth Batty -- he's out in Sri Lanka with England.

"You look at the progress Kabir Ali and Vikram Solanki have made and you know that Tom Moody is making a massive difference. He's a big reason why I came here and hopefully I can go along the same lines as those players."

The 21-year-old stayed on at Trent Bridge last season after almost making the switch to New Road. He's delighted, however, to finally be a Worcestershire man.

"When my contract was up at Notts last season, I was very close to making the move to Worcestershire.

"For whatever reason, I decided to stay at Notts and maybe that was the wrong move. Maybe I wasted a year but I've learnt from that and I'm delighted to be at Worcestershire."

The 6ft 5in bowler, who has toured India and New Zealand with the England Under 19s, has played 14 first-class matches.

He has picked up 35 first class wickets at an average of just over 34 - the first of those being the prized scalp of new team-mate Graeme Hick.