SOMERSET’S Tom Banton had an outstanding 2025 during which he scored nearly 900 First Class runs and amassed over 500 runs in the Vitality Blast.

However, his season came to a premature end when he injured ankle ligaments during the warm up on day two of the Vitality County Championship clash with Surrey.

Talking about the injury the 26 year old said: “There’s still a bit of discomfort but I’ve been running this week. Ligaments take a long time to get better but things are going pretty well.”

He went on: “Winning trophies is why we play the game, and we came very close this year in all three formats. This time last year we talked about how we wanted to be competing for trophies in September and as it turned out we found ourselves in a position where we were challenging for all three. 

“Obviously, we’re all incredibly disappointed not to have won anything but it was still a very good season for the club.

“This winter we will be really looking at what we can do to get over that line in the future. We’ve already had some good conversations about it, and we need to make sure we don’t come up short again.

”Regarding his four-day cricket Tom said: “It’s been a good year for me and I think that comes down to confidence. Previously, I was just so worried about getting out and how that looks. I think I’ve just figured out that I don’t need to over worry about what people are going to think.

”Despite his injury, Tom hobbled out to bat against Surrey in what was one of the standout moments of the summer.

“The game was on the line, and we were challenging for that Championship title. I was told I didn’t need to bat if I couldn’t, but I felt that if I could go out there and just score 20 runs it might make all the difference. It almost made it easier for me because I was just solely focusing on the ball and not having to worry about moving my feet.”

What does the winter have in store for Tom? “I’ll carry on with my rehab and I’m flying out to Abu Dhabi for the T10 competition on Sunday. I’ll be over there with Tom Kohler-Cadmore which is pretty exciting. Then I’m going to Dubai for the ILT20League in January and then before you know it it’ll be April and we’ll be playing our first Championship game.”

What does 2025 have in store for Somerset and Tom? “Hopefully some trophies! I’m not too worried about individual scores, I just want to be putting in match winning contributions for Somerset so that we can win those trophies.”