Tom has really shown his mettle since those tough, tearful early days as Somerset captain
TOM Abell still vividly recalls breaking down in tears on the team bus during his early days as Somerset captain.
The date was June 29, 2017 and the then 23-year-old rookie skipper had just bagged a pair in a County Championship match with Hampshire at Southampton.
Abell’s two innings combined had occupied a total of nine balls. Somerset’s first seven games under his leadership had failed to bring a win and his contributions with the bat included nine other single-figure scores. Quite a contrast to last weekend when Tom’s unbeaten 132 proved the highlight of the sadly rain-ruined championship clash with arch-rivals Gloucestershire at Bristol. It took his tally of runs this season to 529, a tally bettered by only seven batsmen in the competition, at an average of 66.12.
Last summer, Abell hit two Bob Willis Trophy centuries and averaged a healthy 38.6. No longer does anyone question his ability to score big runs while shouldering the added responsibility of captaincy.
Confidence in his own leadership on the pitch has grown visibly since those dark days of 2017 when many, myself included, felt he had taken on too much too soon, particularly with seasoned professionals like Marcus Trescothick, James Hildreth and Peter Trego in the side.
Tom had still to establish himself fully as a batsman, averaging 33.47 in his breakthrough Championship year of 2015 and only 26 the following season. That average had dipped to 14.25 in 2017 when he registered the two ducks at the Ageas Bowl. The team were struggling and Tom now admits to having been overwhelmed by a feeling of failure.
After the post-match tears, he asked then-coach Matthew Maynard to leave him out of the team and missed the following championship match against Yorkshire at Scarborough, which brought a resounding victory by 179 runs.
It was then that Tom showed the mettle, which led Maynard and the Somerset hierarchy to view him as captaincy material at such a tender age. He declined the offer of a break from playing and scored 151 in a Second XI fixture against MCC Universities at Taunton Vale, striking 17 fours and two sixes in an innings spanning 214 balls.
Even then it took unusual circumstances for Abell to receive an immediate first-team recall. Adam Hose, who had scored 62 and 16 at Scarborough, abruptly left for Warwickshire, creating a space in the batting line-up. A rejuvenated Tom grabbled it, scored 96 against Surrey at Taunton, and the rest as they say is history.
If only it had been that simple. Looking back now on a start to his captaincy that would have sunk lesser characters without trace, Abell gives much of the credit for his resurgence to Maynard, current head coach Jason Kerr and his team-mates, who never lost faith in him.
“The support network I had around me was incredible,” he told me. “I always wanted to lead from the front with the bat and when it wasn’t happening it hurt me a lot.
“The lowest point was the Hampshire game and that was a really tough time. I had tried training harder and hitting more balls in practice, but nothing was working.
“I was mentally shot and so low on confidence. I didn’t have a wealth of experience behind me and there was no way I could have prepared for what would be expected of me as captain. Leading the team on the field is only a very small part of the job. What I found hardest was being involved in team selection and having to talk to players who were being left out. It meant having some really tough conversations with team-mates I had a great relationship with and that still applies today.
“Having people to talk to like Hildy and Tres was so important. Matt and Jason were great to me as coaches and it was such a boost to my self-belief to know that everyone was behind me at a time when I felt I wasn’t worth my place in the side. You need a clear head when you are batting and I certainly did not have that at the time. My family have always been my biggest supporters and I relied on them heavily, too.
“I went into the second XI and really had to discover how to bat all over again. I stripped things down and almost started from scratch.
“When Adam Hose left I got back in the first team and remember going in against Surrey when we had lost a few early wickets. I managed to get a score and things gradually improved from there.”
I asked Tom after all he has been through what advice he would give to a young cricketer suddenly faced with the responsibility of being a county captain.
“Trust yourself,” he said. “Everyone will offer you opinions and it is important to take them on board, but ultimately you will be held accountable for your decisions so back yourself and what you believe in.”
That philosophy has served Tom well. Taunton-born, he is a credit to Somerset on and off the field and absolutely the right man to lead the quest for a first ever County Championship title.