James Rew is targeting a regular place in Somerset’s County Championship side next season following a hugely impressive breakthrough in red ball cricket.
The 18-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman marked his debut in the competition with two innings against Lancashire at Southport last week that saw him make 93 runs, face 246 balls and occupy the crease for a total of four hours and 41 minutes.
That after the young left-hander had gone in with Somerset in trouble at 105 for four in the first innings and 75 for four in the second.
It was Rew’s temperament, as much as his impressive technique, that passed both tests with flying colours and marked him as more than capable of fulfilling the promise that has already brought England Under-19 honours.
Somerset already valued James highly enough to award him a contract until the end of the 2024 season in April. He would have played Championship cricket earlier this summer, but for the little matter of completing A-Level studies in Physics, Maths, Economics and Further Maths at King’s College, Taunton.
“Results day is on August 18, so I’m not looking forward to that,” he smiled when we met up before the start of the second day’s play against Yorkshire at the Cooper Associates County Ground this week. “I took the subjects I most enjoyed. I am interested in investment management and other financial matters.”
When it comes to cricketing intelligence, Rew showed it in abundance in dealing with the Lancashire bowling attack, making 70 in his first Championship innings. He shared a stand of 145 with 21-year-old Lewis Goldsworthy, who must have felt like a comparative veteran at the other end.
“Lewis and I had batted together a fair bit in the second XI and that helped a lot,” Rew told me. “I was quite nervous walking out to bat and facing my first two balls I didn’t really know what to think. I just set about trying to face as many as possible. Lewis helped calm my nerves and it was a big moment when I reached my first Championship fifty.
“My dad, who first got me interested in cricket, was there, along with my mum and younger brother, which made it even more special.”
Rew is London-born, but his family moved to Taunton when he was just four. He played age-group cricket for Somerset from Under-10 level and joined the club’s Academy from its Emerging Player Programme in 2019.
He took up wicketkeeping by accident. “I was playing for my club Taunton St Andrews at around the age of nine when one day we didn’t have a keeper for a game, so I offered to give it a go.
“I enjoyed it straight away. Now, while I would be more than happy to play in Somerset’s team as a batter, I do consider myself a keeper and hope I can contribute in that way too.”
Having made his first-team debut in last season’s Royal London Cup, Rew was a member of the England Under-19 team who reached the final of the World Cup in Antigua last February, making 95 in that game, which was lost to India.
“That whole tournament was a fantastic experience for me,” he said. “The coaches were so good and I felt it played a big part in my development.”
Unlike many emerging county players these days, James feels his current game is more suited to Championship than white ball cricket. “At the moment, I prefer red ball games and looking to bat for as long as I can,” he said.
That is excellent news as far as Somerset are concerned. Not short of clean hitters in one-day formats, they could do with the likes of Rew and Goldsworthy developing the powers of concentration displayed at Southport to bolster what this season has been a fragile four-day batting line-up.
