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BY JEREMY BLACKMORE JULY 22, 2015 INTERVIEWS, NEWS

Somerset Director of Cricket Matt Maynard is backing the young players who have

done so well for Somerset this year as the club enters a month of one-day

competition. Photograph by Alexander Davidson.

Somerset plan for the future as Thomas moves aside for youth 

Somerset today

announced major

changes to their

limited overs side

ahead of the final

two games of the

T20 campaign

and the start of

the Royal London

One Day Cup

competition on

Sunday. The

Incider’s

Managing Editor

Jeremy

Blackmore spoke

this evening to

Director of

Cricket Matt

Maynard who

explained more.

Somerset have

started planning for the future by backing youth for this summer’s 50-over campaign, with white ball

skipper Alfonso Thomas moving aside.

Jim Allenby takes over as captain, starting with Somerset’s remaining two NatWest T20 Blast matches

against Hampshire and Middlesex this week, which could see Jack Leach, Tom Abell and new signing Adam

Hose all make their 20-over debuts. All three are named in an initial 13-man squad announced today.

Director of Cricket Matt Maynard told The Incider this evening that the remaining Blast games were an

“opportune time to have a look and give some exposure and experience to the young players who’ve done

so well for us this year”.

But the changes extend beyond this week’s games into the Royal London One Day Cup campaign which

starts with a home match against Derbyshire on Sunday. Allenby is set to captain a young bowling attack,

comprising three fast bowlers in Craig and Jamie Overton and Lewis Gregory who have all received England

call-ups this summer.

Tom Abell will open and be given the opportunity to anchor the innings in the same fashion as he has done

so successfully in the County Championship.

The changes also mean no place for overseas signing Abdur Rehman or Marcus Trescothick, who will act as

assistant coach to Maynard during the competition.

Maynard insisted that while the club was always keen to integrate youth into its squad for the 50-over

game, there was a balance to be struck: “We want to do very well in the Royal London One-Day Cup. So, it’s

not just a case of throwing youngsters in for the sake of it, getting guys off our Academy and just giving

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Jim Allenby takes over as Somerset’s new one-day captain, starting

with tomorrow night’s match against Hampshire at Southampton.

Photograph by Alexander Davidson.

Jack Leach is set to make his T20 debut against Hampshire and feature

heavily in the Royal London One-Day Cup. Photograph by Alexander

Davidson.

them a go. You’ve still got to

earn the right to play for the

first team.

“I believe players like Adam

Hose have done that, the

weight of runs he’s scored with

the Seconds, as has Jack Leach.

Obviously Tom Abell has

played brilliantly for us,

especially in the past two

months in the Championship,

and fully deserves his

opportunity in the one-day

form. It leaves us with good

cover.”

Maynard said that Leach had

been in the forefront of the

club’s planning at the start of

the season before he suffered

a severe head injury.

“He’s back playing really well

now. Against Notts Seconds he

scored a century and bowled

them out which is what you

want from a spinner and it

seems the right time to bring

him in. He performed really

well in the one-day cup last

year and we’re hoping he’ll do

the same again, so he’s in the

squad and he’s playing in the

T20s and the same with Tom

Abell, the Overton boys and

Lewis Gregory.

“Getting those youngsters

involved should give us plenty

of energy in the field. They’re

fearless cricketers, I love their

attitude. They just go out and

play, which is exactly what you

want in the one-day format.”

Dropping Thomas, who was

appointed white ball skipper at

the beginning of the season

but had a poor T20

tournament, had been a tough

decision, said Maynard.

“Alfonso’s been absolutely

brilliant. He’s struggled maybe

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Alfonso Thomas stands down as one-day

captain after a disappointing T20 competition to

give more opportunities to Lewis Gregory and

Craig and Jamie Overton. Photo by Alexander

Davidson

Adam Hose is set to make his first XI debut for Somerset in the T20

against Hampshire at Southampton tomorrow night. Photograph by

Alexander Davidson.

a little bit in the T20. He’s not

the only one to say that; we had a poor T20

campaign, but it does give the opportunity to those

younger bowlers to show what they’re capable of.

“Once that decision was made to play those young

players, we had to look at the captain, which changed

our thinking from the winter, so Jim [Allenby] is the

obvious choice hereon in. He’s certainly got the

backing of the dressing room and the senior players

as well. It’s great to see how warmly he’s been

welcomed into that position and hopefully we’ll have

a good competition.”

Maynard added: “Craig and Jamie Overton along with

Lewis Gregory all got called up for the England ODIs

so we are going to give them a go. Our initial thinking

last winter was that Alfonso would captain in one-day

cricket but that would mean that one of those guys

would miss out which doesn’t seem fair. The

Overtons and Lewis, along with Tim Groenewald, will

give us four bowlers who we will rotate so they will

get plenty of experience and exposure.”

Maynard marked the end of Marcus Trescothick’s

distinguished white ball career after 236 List A

matches for Somerset (average 36.87) and 86 T20

matches (average 27.81), saying he would not play a part in the county’s 50-over campaign this summer. He

had already been omitted from the latter half of the T20 group stages.

“Marcus found it quite tricky

switching from the red ball to

the white ball in terms of

tempo of his innings,” said

Maynard. “He’s been a

wonderful white ball player for

Somerset but maybe his time

has gone in that now and [he

can] really focus now on the

red ball.”

He praised new signing Adam

Hose as “a unique brand of

cricketer” who had scored

centuries in all three formats

of the game this year.

“We are a little short on batting

which I think has been obvious

in recent weeks and this is a

great opportunity. He’s got a

game which probably is slightly

more suited to the T20/one-day format now, but he’s also shown that he can bat longer innings as well. So,

he’s fully deserved his contract and the opportunity to work with a professional staff for the remainder of

this summer, through the winter and obviously next year and we’ll be hoping at some stage to extend that

contract offer.”

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Michael Bates will start as first choice keeper in white ball

cricket in the Royal London Cup. Photograph by

Alexander Davidson.

Hose is excited about being called in to the

squad days after signing his first county

contract: “It is fantastic to be included in the

squad,” he said. “To make my Somerset

debut against Hampshire, where I played a

lot of my cricket would be brilliant. My

parents will be coming along to watch so I

will be giving it my best!”

Former Hampshire keeper Michael Bates

will start the Royal London One Day Cup

and play in this week’s two T20 games,

despite his lack of runs since joining

Somerset mid-season.

“He’s kept superbly for us,” said Maynard.

“Obviously by his own admission, he’s been

slightly short of runs, but he’s not missed a

trick behind the stumps, he’s been superb

behind there, tidying up throws, he hasn’t

missed a catch. He’s looked very much the

part.”

Two Somerset cricketers who performed

well on the world stage in limited over

cricket in this year’s World Cup, Josh Davey

& George Dockrell, do not feature in the

initial squad for this week’s two T20 games.

They have been away recently as part of the

Scotland and Ireland squads in the World

T20 qualifiers, and Maynard admitted it was

tough on associate players to make a mark

domestically when they were away so much

of the season. However he said they could

still come into contention during the Royal London tournament.

“They’re not in the initial squad, but we have some cricket that the Second XI are playing that they could

push themselves into contention in, most definitely. They’re both very good young professionals and they

have got a lot of talent.”

Somerset’s group in the Royal London One-Day Cup includes last year’s winners Durham and county

champions Yorkshire, but Maynard said the club could not afford to fear any side in the tournament.

“This is the one white ball competition this year where you can build momentum,” he said. “You get off to a

good start and play some good cricket and all of a sudden the confidence in the camp gets boosted.”

With the club able to concentrate solely on limited overs cricket for an entire calendar month, Maynard

confirmed that all their practice would be around the white ball.

“We’ve got some plans in place obviously for the Royal London One Day Cup. We can’t fear anyone. We’ve

just got to make sure we do our best, that we actually perform to our capabilities, which unfortunately we

didn’t do in the T20, whereas we have done on occasions in the championship. We haven’t been consistent

enough in the championship, so hopefully this is a competition that we can put those both together, put in

those consistent performances and be aggressive with both bat and ball and we’ll get the results.”

Changes to the regulations in one-day cricket are welcome, says Maynard, pointing out that the previous

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“We can’t fear anyone in our group,” says Director of Cricket Matt

Maynard. Photograph by Alexander Davidson.

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powerplay structure had

“ruined many an innings”.

“I welcome these changes. I

think it’s very good for the

game and very exciting that

we’re the first nation to try

them out domestically.”

Somerset now have a break

from red ball cricket until 21

August when they entertain

Worcestershire at Taunton and

Maynard said the side’s

progress in the one-day cup

would tell whether or not the

break had come at the right

time.

“We obviously lost four

matches on the trot in the T20

campaign, and that affects

confidence which came

through a little bit into our

championship form. You look

at Warwickshire, they’ve been

winning in the T20 and they’re

carrying that momentum into

the longer form of the game.

So I think a lot will depend a lot

on how this one-day cup

competition goes, how much

confidence we can gain in the squad ahead of that Worcester game [in late August].”

The full squad for this week’s two T20 matches against Hampshire and Middlesex are: Tom Abell, Jim

Allenby (capt), Michael Bates (wkt), Tom Cooper, Lewis Gregory, James Hildreth, Adam Hose, Jack Leach,

Johann Myburgh, Craig Overton, Jamie Overton, Peter Trego and Max Waller.

 

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