TOM Abell has enjoyed his best ever season in first class cricket and crowned it by scoring 307 to join the elite Somerset 300 Club.
The first ever triple century was scored by another Somerset thoroughbred, Harold Gimblett, born and brought up in Bicknoller he made 310 against Sussex in 1948.
That record stood until 1985 when Viv Richards scored 322 in a day against Warwickshire. Jimmy Cook scored an unbeaten 313 against Glamorgan in Cardiff in 1990 and in 2005 Graeme Smith made 311 against Leicestershire.
Justin Langer set a new record of 342 against Surrey at Guildford in 2006 and in his next innings for the Cidermen at the start of 2007 hit 315 against Middlesex. James Hildreth joined the club in 2009 when he scored an unbeaten 303 against Warwickshire.
Tom Banton then set a new record highest score of 371 against Worcestershire at Taunton in 2025.
However when Tom reached the landmark total last week he became the first Taunton born player to join the 300 Club. On his way to joining the Somerset 300 Club Tom passed 1000 championship runs in a season for the third time - his total of 1287 being the best to see him end up as the second highest run scorer in the 2027 championship.
What does it mean to Tom to score 300 for his home county where he has watched and played cricket from a very young age?
“It’s very special and means a lot to me - it’s a great feeling to be in the company of those greats who have also achieved that feat.
“I feel a bit of a fraud among them to be honest. Being a Taunton boy and playing here it means a lot to me and my family and I will certainly look back on it as a very special day.
“I haven’t got close to that before - it’s all a bit surreal and you don’t really think too much about it at the time, but I’m pretty pleased. “ Tom modestly added: “I guess it was my day - I had a bit of luck - I got dropped a couple of times but in the moment and in the game you don’t appreciate the magnitude of records and personal achievements until you step back and look through a different lens.”
Regarding his season overall Tom said: “I’m pretty happy with how the season has gone for me and as a batting group we should be very happy with how things have gone for us. Guys have put big scores up throughout the order and I think we’ve been pretty consistent in our performances and that bodes really well for us as a team
“I think the cricket we have played this year has been as good as I’ve experienced. We have been pretty consistent and in games we’ve lost we have been in great positions.
It seems a very long time ago that as a fresh faced 20 year old Tom hit 95 on his debut against Warwickshire at the County Ground back in 2014.
Since then the 32 year old has given Somerset supporters hours of pleasure watching him accrue 9436 runs including 24 centuries at an average of 40.06.
Thanks Tom from everyone who has been part of your cricketing journey, either as a coach or spectator, here’s to another vintage season. . .