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“Let’s not settle for a good season” – Lammers on 2024
2024 saw Tom Lammonby enjoy his most successful red ball season to date, falling just 59 runs short of 1000 First Class runs at an average of 39.30 with a best of 100.
We caught up with the 24-year-old at the Cooper Associates County Ground to look back at his productive year.
“The one thing that I have been searching for over the last few seasons is consistency and in terms of that I am very pleased with how it went,” he said. “I spent the whole of the winter in Taunton working on the fundamental basics of the game, and while that hadn’t been neglected, it was great to have a period of three or four months working on something specific. This can so easily get lost in the summer with the amount of cricket we play and the travelling that we do.
“I got to practice daily retouching and tweaking this and that, which was a big part of me achieving what I did. Greg Kennis did a lot of work with me and so did Shane Burger, so credit goes to them and to all of the other coaches at the Club. I think having a clear idea of what we needed to work on and then being able to work on those things with practical sessions was vital and helped me to have the season I was hoping for.
“However, in cricket you’re always wanting to do more. Even when I look back on this summer it was really good, but it could have been great. That’s what drives me on for next summer, let’s not settle for a good season let’s go for something even better.
“That’s what drives me on, however for me it’s about being able to control that and not losing sight of how consistently good last season was for me as well.
“The one thing that I was missing in red ball last year however was a big hundred. I got one century but to be up there with the big numbers I need to be scoring three or four hundreds and helping to win games of cricket for Somerset. Consistency is great but to win games like Tom Abell did against Warwickshire last year is what I will be looking to do next season.”
Tom then went onto talk about white ball cricket.
“2024 was frustrating and I didn’t really get into that rhythm of playing. I’d like to have a settled role with Somerset doing what I do with the bat and ball and in the field. I only played one game for Somerset last year, partly through performances and partly because the team was doing well.
“The team had another fantastic year but it’s hard to sit on the bench when you want to be part of that success and play yourself. To break back into the Somerset white ball team will be another huge goal for me next summer.”
Tom also discussed the frustrating last weeks of the 2024 season.
“Since being back, we’ve touched on the fact that going into the final stages of the season we were in with a chance of winning three trophies but in the end didn’t win any. We will talk further about that when there are more of us back together. How do we go that one stage further and compete for three and win all of them? I don’t know what it is, but we will have to sit down and discuss it. Maybe it was the fatigue of competing for all three which made us all that extra bit tired or maybe we were not as focussed which was frustrating.
“Our goal is to win all three competitions so we’ve got to be ready for that this year and tweak what we do slightly to make sure we get over the line and make sure that we are there for the final month of the season.”
What was the standout memory for Tom from the 2024 season?
“The win against Warwickshire here was a standout game for me although I don’t think I played a huge part in it. We chased down over 400 in a day which was pretty special with Abes making a big unbeaten hundred. Bants made 80-odd and then Rewy came in at the end and got a few handy runs quickly. They are the wins where you have to work for it and it shows a team with a lot of confidence. We went out and pursued the target when a few others would have settled for the draw, which we might have done in previous seasons.
“The confidence in the batting group made us want to chase that total down and it was a huge learning for us all. It showed real growth in a side that has developed so much over the last couple of years.”
What difference did having Lewis Gregory as captain make?
“I think his confidence to make decisions made a difference, whether it was right or wrong, and that brought a lot of confidence to the group. That was the main thing for me.
“Over the last few years, we’ve seen his tactical nous in white ball cricket where he’s had a huge amount of practice, and now he’s taken that into red ball cricket which has given us a bit more of an aggressive mindset which has definitely helped us.”
Is captaincy something that interests Tom at some stage in his career?
“Yes, I think so but I’m still young and at the moment I think I need to focus on winning games of cricket for Somerset rather than make decisions, but you never know in the future.
“I feel that I’ve got a good relationship with the squad, but captaincy is a tough role and things change, so for now I think I’m better just focusing on myself and winning games of cricket for Somerset, which I am hoping for in 2025.”
