THOMAS Abell, who left Taunton School last summer, has won a prestigious national award for his performances on the cricket field.

He has been selected to receive the Cricket Society's Wetherall Trophy for the leading all-rounder in schools cricket.

Previous winners have included Ravi Bopara and Graeme Swann, who both went on to star for England.

The trophy, on which all the winners' names are engraved, is kept in the museum at Lord's but Thomas will be presented with an incscribed plaque and a cheuqe at a ceremony in London on March 22nd.

Thomas has recently signed a summer contract with Somerset CCC and the award makes up for just missing out on another accolade before Christmas.

He was pipped for Male Pupil of the Year in the Aviva/Telegraph School Sport Matters Awards by none other than Olympic diver Tom Daley.

As well as captaining the record-breaking Taunton School hockey team, who completed their second consecutive undefeated season, Thomas was an outstanding performer at rugby, rugby sevens and indoor hockey, in which the school reached the semi-finals at the national finals.

However, it is his exploits on the cricket field for Taunton School which made the most headlines.

Thomas finished with a total of 3,630 runs for the 1st XI, including 17 centuries, and last summer he scored 1,156 runs in only 11 innings. He passed 50 on every occasion, hit seven centuries and averaged 193!