Taunton School renews cricketing sponsorship deal for former student Tom Abell

Somerset County Cricket Team’s Tom Abell is to receive official player sponsorship from Taunton School for the second year running.

Tom - a student at Taunton School between 1996 and 2012 - was captain of his home county team from 2017 to November 2023.

Taunton School is currently one of the UK's best schools for cricket according to The Cricketer’s Schools Guide 2024. With the Senior School in the top 100, and Prep in the top 50, Taunton is one of only a handful of schools to have both senior and prep schools included in the guide.

Pete Sanderson, Taunton School’s Director of Cricket, said: “We are delighted to be continuing our relationship with Tom. He is an amazing role model not just in terms of how he plays his sport, but also from his time at school.

“Tom was able to mix sporting achievements with academic success - he engaged with every part of school life. This engagement and finding your own exceptional is the central part of the Taunton School journey – and Tom exemplified how it worked at its best.”

Taunton School’s cricket heritage continues to thrive with current students Ben Church, Oscar Coleman, Kian Roberts, and Alice Robbins recently selected to join the Somerset County Academy.

Cricket coaching provision has grown and facilities have been further upgraded since Tom’s time at Taunton School. Both Mr Sanderson and former England cricketer Marcus Trescothick are ECB Level 4 coaches at the school, assisted by Dave Roberts, the current Somerset youth coach and ECB Level 3 coach.

“Here, the top players can achieve their ambitions but a third team player can also achieve their own exceptional too,” said Mr Sanderson. “We celebrate each other’s successes in one inclusive community.”

Tom, 29, maintains a strong relationship with his old school, where he had a prolific scoring record and made his debut for the school's 1st XI side at the age of 14. He became the school’s youngest cricketer to reach the 1000-run landmark by the age of just 16 and finished his schooldays with a total of 3,630 runs for the first XI, scoring 17 centuries.

“He was very humble and helped others to achieve their best, despite being a leading player in not just cricket, but also hockey and rugby. This trait has continued during his time at Somerset and we are thrilled to be able to support him,” said Mr Sanderson.

A right-handed batter but also a right-arm medium pace bowler, Tom is a previous winner of the Young Wisden Schools’ Cricketer of the Year award and was also a holder of the Cricket Society’s Wetherell Award, which goes to the leading all-rounder in Schools’ Cricket.

At Somerset, Tom captained the county team for seven seasons, leading them to the runners-up spot in the County Championship in 2018 and 2019.