Somerset captain Tom Abell extends contract through to end of 2022

Abell became the first Somerset captain since Graeme Smith in 2005 to win a domestic one-day competition by clinching the Royal London Cup at Lord’s in May

Somerset captain Tom Abell has signed a new contract with the county, seeing the 25-year-old through to the end of the 2022 season.

The batsman's previous deal was due to come to an end a year earlier, but he has extended his agreement after a fine 2019 campaign.

Abell became the first Somerset captain since Graeme Smith in 2005 to win a domestic one-day competition by clinching the Royal London Cup at Lord’s in May.

His white-ball cricket has improved immensely in recent times; he struck his maiden T20 hundred against Middlesex in August, scoring 354 runs in this year’s T20 Blast at an average of 44.25 and a strike rate of 177.88 – a record that earned him a £100,000 Hundred deal with Manchester Originals.

Abell took on the captaincy in 2017 as a 23-year-old and, this year, came within a single win of winning a first ever County Championship title for the county.

He made 756 runs across the red-ball campaign – the most in a Somerset side that struggled for big totals on difficult surfaces for batting at Taunton.

He has also developed himself into a useful bowling option, claiming 35 wickets thus far at an average of 26.68.

^{Abell struck his first T20 century against Middlesex}

On his new deal, Abell said: “I’m absolutely over the moon to have signed this extension and I couldn’t be happier. Ultimately, it’s about winning and the reason I’ve signed is because I want to win things here.

“It’s no secret that this is my home club and I’m very passionate about Somerset cricket and I firmly believe that with the squad we have and the people behind the scenes we can continue to win things.

“Lifting the Royal London One-Day Cup this year was incredible but by no means have we finished there. Having won that competition, we were desperate to win the Championship. It didn’t quite happen, but our sights are firmly set on going one better next year.

“The club means absolutely everything to me. It’s my life and I try to give absolutely everything that I can for Somerset Cricket, and it hurts when that’s not quite enough and we don’t come out on the right side of the result. To me, this place is my extended family. A lot gets made of the support that we get and rightly so. Having the support that we get is incredible.”

Somerset director of cricket Andy Hurry added: “We can’t speak highly enough of Tom. He is an extremely talented cricketer who is able to adapt his game across the three formats. This kind of versatility makes him the perfect player for the current era.

“He is an outstanding leader of men and, despite still being relatively young, he has a tremendous amount of experience already. He has the absolute respect of everyone at the club and he perfectly epitomises what a professional sportsman should be.”

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