{"id":861698,"date":"2026-03-31T03:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/861698\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:09:12","slug":"rise-of-james-and-thomas-rew-gives-somerset-a-familar-headache","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/861698\/","title":{"rendered":"Rise of James and Thomas Rew gives Somerset a familar headache"},"content":{"rendered":"

How do you fit two talented young wicketkeeper-batters with England<\/a> ambitions into the same team? It is a familiar conundrum for Somerset<\/a>, only this time with a twist. More than a decade on from Jos Buttler’s departure for Lancashire<\/a> following a battle with Craig Kieswetter, it is a pair of brothers who will soon find themselves competing for the gloves in James<\/a> and Thomas Rew<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The two situations are similar, though not identical. Back in 2013, Buttler had leapfrogged Kieswetter to become England’s first-choice white-ball wicketkeeper but was second choice at Somerset. Both players were targeting Test call-ups at a time when keeping wicket in county cricket was seen as a prerequisite for international selection, prompting Buttler’s departure.<\/p>\n

The example of Jamie Smith<\/a> – England’s Test keeper, but second choice at Surrey behind Ben Foakes – is evidence that expectations have changed, while neither Rew brother has yet played a full international match. But Somerset are conscious of the precedent: “It’s a bridge that I’m sure, at some stage, we’re going to have to cross,” says club captain Lewis Gregory.<\/p>\n

Andy Hurry, Somerset’s long-serving director of cricket, was head coach when the Buttler-Kieswetter saga played out. “It’s great to have that healthy competition, isn’t it?” he says of the Rew brothers. “[It is] one we’ve got some experience of historically as well, so there’ll be lots of communication – including the players, as well as the staff – around what that looks like moving forwards.”<\/p>\n

Gregory points to the Rews’ local upbringing as an advantage, and says “both of them love this place” – though the same was true of Buttler, who, like James and Thomas, was a pupil at King’s College Taunton and a Somerset academy graduate. “Hopefully, with them being brothers, it might make it a little bit easier,” Gregory adds. “I think they’re both pretty chilled, with regards to the keeping situation.”<\/p>\n

Fraternal relations aside, there is another significant reason that Somerset are not overly concerned by the situation just yet. For all his winter achievements – captaining England to the Under-19 World Cup final<\/a>, touring Australia with the Lions and earning a lucrative Hundred<\/a> deal – the younger Rew brother, Thomas, has not finished school, and will spend the next few weeks revising for his A-Levels.<\/p>\n

He watched his name come up at the Hundred auction while sitting at the back of an economics lesson earlier this month. “We were meant to be studying taxes,” Rew says. “I had it on my screen, which was a bit naughty.” He has only played three professional T20 matches, but his performances for England Under-19s convinced Southern Brave to pay \u00a380,000 for his services. “It was an incredible moment, really, to share that with a few of my mates who were sitting next to me.”<\/p>\n

His other subjects are mathematics and geography, and he will sit his exams between May 11 and June 18. “As long as there’s not an exam on that day, I’m technically available for selection,” he says, though he appears unlikely to feature in the early stages of the season. Head coach Jason Kerr has been in touch with the Rews’ parents, and stresses: “It’s important he concentrates on what’s happening at school.”<\/p>\n

At 18, Thomas is yet to play in the County Championship but has been fast-tracked by England, making his first-class debut for the Lions against Australia A in December. His brother James, who is four years older, already has 11 first-class hundreds, but many believe that Thomas will become even better than him.<\/p>\n

\"India<\/p>\n

Thomas Rew led England to the Under-19s World Cup final in February\u2022International Cricket Council<\/p>\n

“Everyone knows how talented he is,” Gregory says. “Most people fully expect him to be with England in the not-too-distant future\u2026 I remember growing up with Jos on the academy, and seeing what he could do. Some of the shots that Jos used to play as a kid were like, ‘Christ’. T-Rew’s got all of that.”<\/p>\n

Rew says Buttler has always been “an inspiration” and sees himself as “quite an aggressive batter” in a similar mould. “I’ve always admired the way he goes about his cricket, and I love watching him,” he says. “Every time he walks out to bat, I always switch the telly on\u2026 His name is plastered up around the school.”<\/p>\n

He describes making 55 for the Lions against England at Lilac Hill<\/a> as one of the highlights of his winter. “To play on the same field as those boys that were preparing for an Ashes series was incredible. [Joe] Root and Harry Brook were giving me bits of advice whilst I was batting in the middle, which was absolutely unbelievable really, and so surreal. There were definitely times where I had to pinch myself.”He stopped off at the SA20 with Paarl Royals on his way to the Under-19 World Cup in Zimbabwe, where his 110 to beat Australia in the semi-final<\/a> was a contender for innings of the tournament. At least, that is, until the final, when Vaibhav Sooryavanshi blew Rew’s England side out of the water with 175 off just 80 balls to set up a 100-run victory.<\/p>\n

“To get a World Cup hundred and to beat Australia was definitely up there,” Rew says. “It was probably one of my favourite innings, but it was just a shame we couldn’t do it again in the final. We all wanted to win that trophy, and we’d worked hard for the last two years\u2026 It was disappointing, but we look back at it and we were really proud of what we did.”<\/p>\n

Captaining against Sooryavanshi was a thankless task. “It was in the 15th over of a 50-over game and we just went straight to yorkers\u2026 His bat swing, we actually found it incredible just to watch that. We’re all going to learn stuff from that innings and take it into our own game. I’m looking forward to seeing how he does in the IPL. Hopefully, he can go and put on a show again.”<\/p>\n

Not that Rew will have much time to watch within his revision schedule. “I’ve had a lot of school work to catch up on\u2026 I’ve had a few past papers to do, and my teachers have been really good at giving me extra one-to-one time through the week. I’ve managed to catch up. Hopefully now it’s just about knuckling down before the exams.”<\/p>\n

And thereafter, wrestling the gloves off his older brother.<\/p>\n

Matt Roller is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How do you fit two talented young wicketkeeper-batters with England ambitions into the same team? It is a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4101],"tags":[20565,1406,1742,13,12,21589,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-861698","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-bulletin","9":"tag-cricket","10":"tag-daily","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-package","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116321594145224040","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}