THE whole of the west country gave a very loud cheer and at the same time a huge sigh of relief when Tom Abell rediscovered the form that had previously deserted him this season, when he hit a career best unbeaten 150 against Surrey at the Oval, writes Richard Walsh.
After he scored this career best score, Abell said: "Personally, the most difficult thing is to trust in your process when it’s not going well but the coaches have put countless hours in with me and the batting group to try and get us into a good place and the energy around us has been great.
"It’s so easy to dissect your game but ultimately it’s just about accessing the ball and I’m glad it’s worked out for me and the team today."
One of Taunton’s favourite sons, Abell is a highly talented, but very modest young man who was born at Musgrove Park Hospital. He grew up living close to Taunton Vale Sports Club where he still plays his club cricket, and went to Taunton School where he broke every school record there was and he named as the Young Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year in 2013.
Abell has been a prolific run scorer at every stage of his career and he made his Second XI debut in 2010 and named Second XI Player of the Year in 2013 after scoring 1234 runs at an average of over 40.
He made his championship debut in 2014, making 95 against Warwickshire at Taunton and then became the first former Somerset Academy player to be appointed captain of the county in 2017 at the age of 23.
Since then he has experienced the highs and the lows of cricket from winning the Royal London One Day Cup at Lord’s in 2019 to the nightmare end to last season and the opening two games of the 2022 campaign.
He's been in since the 10th over of the match 👌
— Somerset Cricket 🏏 (@SomersetCCC) April 22, 2022
He's still looking in complete control 👌#WeAreSomerset #SURvSOM pic.twitter.com/PGyl9z0RTm
His own form had fallen away and in his previous 14 innings, which included two for England Lions out in Australia in the winter the right hander had scored a total of 109 runs at an average of 7.79.
However they say that form is temporary and class is permanent, but during his run of low scores even he must have wondered when it was ever going to end. That in addition to Somerset being beaten six times in a row weighed heavy on his shoulders ,but Abell managed to retain his composure and kept faith in his totally supportive squad of players.
On Thursday the skipper showed that belief when after winning the toss he chose to bat, a decision he might have doubted briefly when once again he found himself walking to the wicket with just 12 runs in the board.
After adding 66 with Matt Renshaw and 42 with Tom Banton, the skipper was joined by James Hildreth and together the pair took Somerset onto 223, bringing up the side’s first batting bonus point in five innings this season, before Hildreth went for 54.
Abell then found another willing supporter in Josh Davey (27) with who he added 59 before he ran out of partners as Somerset were all out for 337 in 116.4 overs.
Abell’s 150 not out was a best career best and his ninth first class hundred, which came off 298 balls and included 22 fours. During his innings the skipper passed 5000 first class runs for Somerset.
This was only Abell’s first century since scoring an unbeaten 132 against Gloucestershire in Bristol last May so it has been a long wait, but now he has recaptured his form let us all hope there are many more just around the corner.
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