By RICHARD WALSH

IT has been a pretty big week for Somerset Academy all-rounder Tom Lammonby, during which he completed his A-level exams, was named England Under-19 captain for the looming two-match Test series against South Africa and scored half century for Somerset in the Second XI Trophy final.

Lammonby, who is 18, hails from Exeter and joined the Academy at Taunton in 2015. Since then he has made quite a name for himself and last summer was England’s man of the series in the Royal London Under-19s series against India at the age of 17

During the winter Lammonby was unluckily ruled out of the ICC Under-19s World Cup in New Zealand after he suffered a broken hand in practice.

Now the middle-order, left-handed batsman, who also bowled left-arm medium pace, is back to full fitness.

At the start of another busy week – he is playing for Devon against Wales today, tomorrow and Tuesday – Lammonby has been reflecting on the chance to lead England.

“The captaincy was announced on Wednesday and when I first heard it was a really nice surprise and something I feel very proud to have been asked to do,” he said. 

“I am very chuffed and really excited as it coincided with the last day of my exams so it was double reward.

“There are two test matches, one at Scarborough and the other at Chester-le-Street, and three ODIs against South Africa. 

“We go up to Scarborough on July 1. Hopefully, if I am selected for the ODIs, they will go on until the end of the month, which is pretty good to be able to look forward to.”

Lammonby will be joined in the squad by Somerset team-mate Tom Banton, who is enjoying a rich vein of form at the moment, and Exeter CC team-mate Ethan Bamber who is on the Middlesex books.

Bamber is studying at university in Exeter and hooked up with Lammonby at the Premier club, which is based opposite the campus.

On Wednesday Lammonby changed his school books for his cricket kit and was part of the Somerset team that was narrowly beaten by Middlesex in the Second XI Trophy final at Radlett. During that game Lammonby scored 51 and shared a partnership of 88 with fellow Devonian Ben Green.

“Of course it was pretty disappointing to lose by one wicket, but I thought that I played all right and felt good a the crease,” said Lammonby. 

“I maybe should have gone on and made a match-winning contribution, but it’s a learning curve to me and hopefully next time in a similar situation I will do a little bit better.

“It was good fun to be out there batting with another Devon boy - that made it a bit more special.

“It’s almost three years since I signed on the Academy and it just seems to have flown by. It has been a great experience and that all seems a million miles away now.”

Playing for Devon against Wales is a chance to get some longer-format cricket in before the Test series starts.

“It will be really nice to be able to play some red-ball cricket again because over the last few months I seem to have been involved with white-ball cricket, so I am looking forward to that again as well,” he said.

One thing that is certain is that Tom Lammonby is a very talented young player and his name going to be heard of a great deal in the future.