In the lead up to the 2016 domestic season, ecb.co.uk is running a series of features with all 18 first-class counties. Somerset batsman James Hildreth is hoping to pick the brains of Australian Chris Rogers and believes the influence of Chris Gayle will pay dividends for the squad.
Somerset endured a frustrating campaign last year, but James Hildreth remains optimistic as new signings and the return of a fan favourite have brought a new lease of life to Taunton as the club look to exceed expectations in 2016.
Group-stage exits in the Royal London One-Day Cup and NatWest T20 Blast as well as a relegation-threatened Specscaers County Championship Division One campaign overshadowed the breathtaking performances of big-hitting West Indies batsman Chris Gayle and the emergence of rising star Tom Abell.
The arrivals of young wicketkeeper Ryan Davies and all-rounder Roelof van der Merwe have boosted their ranks but the signing of one man could be the missing piece to Somerset’s puzzle ahead of the new season.
With Abell, veteran Marcus Trescothick and Hildreth, the addition of former Australia opener Chris Rogers now means Somerset will boast a unique top-order consisting of more than 61,000 first-class runs.
And Hildreth, least season’s top run-scorer in Division One, believes the 38-year-old’s experience will rub off on the squad.
“To have a resource like that come in is brilliant,” Hildreth told ecb.co.uk.
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“I will watch him as much as possible, to see how he goes about his business. It will be great to see what he does and get some ideas on how to maintain consistency.
“We’re all excited ahead of the season, we’ve made some good signings. Obviously Chris, has had a great career on the international scene and will be massive.
“Bringing in wicketkeeper Ryan Davies will also help in four-day cricket. Then we’ve got some young players coming through so the boys are pretty excited.”
The return of one man has certainly had it’s effects on fans at the Cooper Associates County Ground. The Taunton faithful witnessed the brutal hitting of opening batsman Gayle, who stole the headlines in the NatWest T20 Blast with 328 runs in just three innings.
Earlier this month, the club confirmed that their previous ticket record was smashed as over 5,500 were sold in the space of seven hours during the first days of sales and Hildreth believes the excitement surrounding ‘Universe Boss’ has spread amongst the players.
“It’s extraordinary, the impact and influence he had last year was incredible,” the 31-year-old added.
“The number of people that came to the ground just to watch him play. Everything about him as a cricketer and as a bloke, it was just incredible to have him around at Taunton.
“We’re all really excited to get him back.
“Certainly a lot of tickets have been sold already so to have him back is amazing.”
Somerset endured their struggles in Division One last year but there were some bright spots for director of cricket Matthew Maynard to take away from that campaign.
Lewis Gregory and the Overton twins received call-ups for England, while Abell earned the Breakthrough Player Award on the back of 721 Championship runs at an average of 40.05 and Hildreth is confident the Taunton-born batsman could have a breakout year.
“I think Tom Abell is one of the youngsters to look out for,” Hildreth said.
“He had a good year last season and had a brilliant season overseas in Australia having spent some time over there this winter.
“He’s one of the promising young batsman in the country. There’s a lot of guys in the Lions and U19 set-up, Tom hasn’t done that yet but that’s something he certainly hopes for.”
Looking ahead, Hildreth acknowledges the fierce competition in Division One but feels the club can challenge for top honours across all fronts.
“There are some strong teams out there, pushing towards the top end but hopefully we can score runs in the top of the order and, with a couple of the young bowlers, we can take some wickets,” he added.
“There’s no reason why they (the youngsters) can’t have good seasons and we can be pushing towards the top end of the County Championship. There are some good teams in Division One but we want to be competing with them.”
Source: ECB