Reece Topley has been rewarded for his sterling start to the season with a one-year contract with Essex.A product of the Graham Gooch Essex Cricket Academy, the 17-year-old left-arm seamer made his first-class debut in April and took 14 wickets for Essex in his three opening Championship matches – including five-wicket hauls in each of his first two games against Kent and Middlesex.His season was interrupted after a sensational start as he had to return to Royal Hospital School in Suffolk to start revising for the summer exams, and he will make a decision on his academic commitments at the end of the end of the season.”I am really happy and excited to have signed a contract with the club,” said Topley. “This is where I have been playing since the age of nine years old and I’ve grown up watching the players, which I now play alongside. In the future, I look forward to performing for Essex and developing as a player with the club.””Reece is a very exciting prospect and I am delighted for him that he signed his first professional contract with Essex,” added Paul Grayson, Essex’s head coach.”He has already made a big impact in First Class cricket at a young age taking two five-wicket hauls against Kent and also versus Middlesex at Lord’s. He will now look to continue developing and learning all the time as a player.”