DARYL Mitchell has been tipped to become Worcestershire's natural successor to veteran David Leatherdale.

The glowing acclamation from head coach Steve Rhodes came as the County handed 21-year-old Mitchell a professional contract to reward him for an impressive senior breakthrough.

Mitchell's contract runs until the end of the 2006 season and he follows teenager Steve Davies as the second Worcestershire academy graduate to sign professional terms.

A string of encouraging first-team displays from the Badsey-born all-rounder prompted the New Road club to secure his future.

Mitchell has been the leading beneficiary of international call-ups for Vikram Solanki, Kabir Ali and Gareth Batty.

In the absence of the England trio, Mitchell has stepped up from the County's Second XI and shown fine temperament at the top level with bat and ball.

He came to prominence with a gritty five-hour 61 at Leicestershire last month, a resolute innings in only his second Championship fixture which confirmed to Rhodes that Mitchell has a role to play in the coming years.

"Daryl is not dissimilar to a player like David Leatherdale," said Rhodes. "When David does retire, Daryl may be that type of cricketer who steps in to his shoes. And he will have learnt a lot from David.

"If he continues to progress, there's a big future for Daryl here. He's never fazed and he's got exactly the type of attitude we want.

"Daryl started the season really well, scoring runs in the second team and pushing his way in. We want to be picking people on form and Daryl deserves his chance. He's earned his place on merit.

"He batted for five hours at Leicestershire and that said a lot about him. He is a determined young man and also an excellent fielder.

"The other positive is that he's from Evesham and there's not that many players in the side that are born and bred in Worcestershire."

Mitchell's medium-pace bowling has been effective in the Twenty20 campaign with economic wicket-taking spells against Somerset and Gloucestershire.

He said "This is something I have been working towards for 10 years and, being a local lad, I am delighted to have signed with the club I have supported all my life."