Thomas Rew and Archie Vaughan have been named in the England Under 19s squad for their tour of South Africa which gets underway later this week.

Vaughan, who burst onto the Somerset scene in 2024 scoring 236 runs in his four championship matches and taking 15 wickets at an average of 20.13, including 11 in the match against Surrey, will captain the side.

For Rew who celebrated his 17th birthday at the end of November the tour is the culmination of a year during which the Academy youngster really came to prominence. He regularly kept wicket for the Somerset Second XI, and played in the team that won the Second XI Vitality Blast trophy.

Rew also made his England Under 19 debut against Sri Lanka before going onto captain the team in the Home Nations Tri-Series.

Since then he has spent five weeks at an England Under 19 training camp in South Africa, from which he returned just prior to Christmas.

He talked more about the summer of 2024.

“I played a lot of four day matches for the Seconds at the start of the season and then to be able to lift the Second XI T20 Trophy was really special, and alongside my brother James.

“I had never been to Wormsley, where the final was played, before and it was a really special ground with lovely views. Being part of that competition was definitely a great experience for me and I have learnt a lot being around the senior staff.

“That is the first trophy that I have helped Somerset to win and my aim is to help them lift plenty more.”

Rew talked about the upcoming series against South Africa Under 19s.

“In South Africa we are playing three one day fixtures against their Under 19s and then follow that up with two Test Matches, and it’s a series we are aiming to win.

“We are start at Western Province CC on 14th January and then move over to Stellenbosch for two matches and then return to Cape Town for the last match, which starts on 3rd February.”