Eighteen-year-old batting prodigy, Thomas Rew, completed back-to-back centuries in consecutive County Championship matches with a match-saving hundred against Warwickshire.
Rew, who scored his maiden red-ball hundred in the third first-class match of his career last week, saved Somerset from defeat at Taunton with a third innings 149.
Somerset conceded a 122-run first innings deficit to Warwickshire, having been bowled out for 208 on day one. After they were reduced to 80-4 on day three still trailing, Rew dug them out of trouble with a superb knock.
He shared a seventh wicket stand of 233 with Craig Overton, taking Somerset to the close on day three on 341-6, with Rew unbeaten on 133*. Having reached his half-century off 95 balls, Rew went on to reach three figures from 171 and went past his previous best in the format of 127 to remain unbeaten overnight. On day four, he reached 149 before he feathered a leg-side catch through to the keeper off Australia all-rounder Beau Webster.
After both Rew and Overton were dismissed, Somerset put the game out of reach with some lower-order runs, which saw Warwickshire required to chase 314 in less than two sessions.
Rew shines with back-to-back hundreds
Having been largely unavailable for Somerset selection in the County Championship owing to his school exams, Rew made his first appearance in the competition in May before he came into the side again last week for their match against Nottinghamshire. In just his second outing in the competition, he struck his maiden century, backing-up the promise he's shown as England U19 captain and for England Lions. His second century was completed eight days later, with Rew having also completed his exams in between.
While Rew was completing his consecutive hundreds, his older brother James was playing in his maiden Test match at The Oval. England lost after a collapse on day five, and the older Rew hasn't been retained in their squad for the next Test match at Trent Bridge, with Jamie Smith coming back into the group after taking paternity leave.
A teenage prodigy himself, James Rew, who is four years older than Thomas, became the youngest English player since Denis Compton to score 10 first-class hundreds last year, at the age of 21 years and 114 days. However, in the race for maiden first class centuries, Thomas just pipped James, scoring his when he was one day younger than his older brother was when he made his first red-ball century.
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
