Somerset batter Tom Abell on spending winter in UAE

Somerset County Cricket Club's media caught up with him earlier this week to see how he got on.

“It was certainly a different Christmas for me,” he explained. “It was a great experience. As a team we would have liked to have done a bit better because we missed out on the play offs, but there were definitely some good moments. It’s a great tournament to be a part of and there were some top players involved. It’s always good to pit yourself against some of the best T20 players around.

“Personally, I would have liked to have done a bit better, but it was really nice to be out there with James Rew and Tom Kohler Cadmore. I’ve played a lot of cricket with those two and we’re pretty close and in tournaments like that it certainly helps to have a familiar face with you out there in the middle. I think we help to get the best out of each other. It wasn’t just about the three of us though. There were 14 different nationalities in the dressing room and there were some top players who we were able to learn from. It’s always important to learn from experiences like this and hopefully I can take my game to the next level this year.

“It was good to be involved in some competitive cricket over the winter and now I’m back I’m looking forward to the next training block so that I can get my game into a good place ahead of the summer.”

Does Tom feel that the experience has made him a better player?

“I don’t think I’m necessarily coming back a better player,” he said. “But it’s given me a bit of clarity about what I want to work on and where I want to take my cricket. You had to be very adaptable because games were played across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah and conditions were very different at the various stadiums. That meant that we had to use different skills and it was crucial to adapt quickly.

“I had a couple of decent knocks, but I would have liked a little bit more from myself over there. The experience has given me greater clarity around how I want to move forward with my game and there’s time to work on that now ahead of the new season. There are certain areas of my game that I feel I can progress and in time that will make me a better player.”

What has it been like to be back at the CACG?

“It’s been great to get back amongst the boys, and we’ve done a bit of fitness, some gym work and a bit of running this week.

"I’m straight back into training and I’m looking forward to working on my skills. We’ve got some great coaches here and as a group we’re always keen to help each other out as much as we can.”