George Thomas, who announced his arrival on the Somerset scene by scoring 75 on his debut against Leicestershire in the Royal London One Day Cup in August 2021, has just flown off to Pakistan where he is taking part in the inaugural Under-19 T20 league competition.

Eighteen-year-old Thomas, graduated from the Somerset Academy at the end of this summer. He enjoyed a successful time playing for England in the Under-19 World Cup out in the West Indies early in 2022, but was unable to play in this season’s RLODC because of injury.

Later this summer, however, he impressed for England Under-19s in their one day series against Sri Lanka, and scored 86 in the second match of the series that was played at Worcester.

George, who attended King’s College in Taunton until the end of this summer term, is playing for Mardan Warriors and is one of only five English players who have been chosen in the draft, which overall includes 24 overseas players from nine different countries and 66 local players.

There are six teams taking place in the tournament, that gets underway on October 6, with the final taking place on October 22, and all of the matches will be played at the Gadsdafi Stadium in Lahore.

Just before he set off the youngster, who plays his cricket for Taunton St Andrews, said: “I am very excited at the prospect of playing in Pakistan.

"I am looking forward to meeting up with my team mates and seeing the ground, I am just  looking forward to getting off the plane and getting a feel of what the place is like and meeting the team mates.

“There are six teams  and we are playing a round robin then a couple of play off games and the final which takes place on October 22, so its going to be a pretty hectic time.

“I am playing in the opening game against Gujranwala Giants who have a Lancashire player in their line up, so I won't have to wait long to get going.

“This is another white ball competition to play in and a chance for me to hopefully keep on getting better.”