James Rew smashed his maiden T20 ton just days after a tough England debut, helping Somerset return to winning ways in the T20 Blast.
Rew smashed his way to an unbeaten 116 off just 56 deliveries, with 14 fours and five sixes, for Somerset against Gloucestershire in the T20 Blast on Friday, June 26. His knock helped Somerset seal the game by 18 runs in Taunton after four consecutive defeats in the competition.
Rew was dropped for 38 and made Gloucestershire pay for the mistake, racing his way to a 23-ball half-century. Even as Somerset continued to lose wickets at the other end, Rew kept finding boundaries and reached his maiden T20 century off just 43 deliveries. It turned out to be the second fastest ton in Somerset T20 history, behind Johann Myburgh, who notched up a 42-ball hundred against Essex back in 2018.
Thanks to Rew’s knock, Somerset posted 194 runs on the board. The next highest scorer of the innings was skipper Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who mustered 17 runs. Somerset bowlers then made sure that Rew’s heroics didn’t go in vain.
After a brilliant 79-run opening stand between D’Arcy Short and Miles Hammond, the hosts struck at regular intervals to dent the chase. Riley Meredith led the bowling attack with a three-wicket haul as Gloucestershire could only reach 176-7 in their 20 overs.
James Rew made his England debut in The Oval Test against New Zealand
Notably, it was only last week that Rew made his Test debut in the second match of the ongoing series against New Zealand after Jamie Smith missed the game following the birth of his second child . He was one of the three Test debutants named in the XI, along with Jordan Cox and Sonny Baker.
The wicketkeeper didn’t have a great outing with the bat, scoring only 39 runs across two innings, while taking four catches behind the stumps. England lost the Test by 253 runs as the visitors dominated the proceedings from the opening day to the fifth.
With Smith rejoining the Test squad for the decider at Trent Bridge, James Rew made way and was thus available for Somerset in the T20 Blast.
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