George Dockrell looks set become a Somerset player after being offered a two-year contract with the English county this week. 

The Ireland left-arm spinner, who turns 18 on Thursday, has played 26 times for Ireland capturing 37 wickets at an average of just over 18.

Dockrell talked enthusiastically about a future in county cricket after taking part in the warm-up with Somerset  for today's Friends Provident t20 game against Kent Spitfires at Taunton. 

Speaking on the Somerset website he said  "Everyone has been very friendly and it looks like a great place to play cricket. I'm looking forward to playing my first game for a Somerset XI at Bath tomorrow and hopefully the contract will be sorted out very soon.

"My ambitions are to keep making progress with Ireland, but also to get into a county first team by developing all aspects of my game.

"I've been aware of Somerset's interest since I was 15, but this is the first game I have watched at Taunton. I'm really impressed by the support and the players have been great to me.

"There are a lot of Ireland games coming up, but hopefully I will be able to get in at least one second XI match for Somerset before the end of the season.

"It helps that a number of the Irish team have already done well in England. I've talked to them about how things work over here and I look forward to following in their footsteps."

Dockrell came to the attention of Somerset with his starring performances in the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies - talking about that he said: "Taking three wickets against West Indies gave me a huge boost in confidence".

"I was very nervous before that game, but by the time we came to play England I was a lot calmer. "I was really happy with how the tournament went for me overall. I was one of the youngest players there, but I tried not to think about that too much."

George models himself on New Zealand's Daniel Vettori, also a left-arm spinner. "We played against him in West Indies and he was incredibly skilful with his control of the ball so I look towards him as an example," he said.

Somerset Director of Cricket Brian Rose told somersetcountycc.co.uk "George will go home and discuss the offer with his parents and we hope to be in a position to make an announcement later this week."