TOM Abell has recently returned to the Cooper Associates County Ground at Taunton after being away playing for the Sharjah Warriorz in the ILT20 in the United Arab Emirates.

The top order batter said: “It was a great experience. It’s a great tournament to be a part of and it’s always good to pit yourself against some of the best T20 players around.

“Personally, I would have liked to have done a bit better, but it was really nice to be out there with James Rew and Tom Kohler Cadmore. I’ve played a lot of cricket with those two and we’re pretty close and in tournaments like that it certainly helps to have a familiar face with you out there in the middle.

It’s always important to learn from experiences like this and hopefully I can take my game to the next level this year.

“It was good to be involved in some competitive cricket over the winter and now I’m back I’m looking forward to the next training block so that I can get my game into a good place ahead of the summer.”

What can Somerset members and supporters expect in 2026? “It’s been a great few years for Somerset cricket. We’ve tasted success and we’ve had some near misses. We certainly want more in 2026 and we’re always looking to take things to the next level.

“We’re excited to see where we can take this group. There are some new faces and there’s an energy around the place. We all want to be consistently challenging in the latter stages of all three competitions and ultimately winning silverware.

“We want to make sure that we’re firing come that first game. We’re ambitious, we feel like we’ve got what it takes to be competitive and hopefully we can win some more silverware.”