Rob Johnston speaks to Worcestershire’s rising star, Tom Fell, after his flying year in 2015…
Worcestershire may have been relegated last season but in the form of their batsman Tom Fell, the county faithful at New Road at least offers some reason for hope.
Despite Worcestershire’s tough campaign, Fell, 22, scored more than 1,000 Championship runs and was the youngest in the top division to do so. Only Yorkshire’s Jonny Bairstow and Sussex’s Ben Brown scored more hundreds than Fell’s three.
Of those, Fell’s 114 against eventual champions Yorkshire in April signalled his intentions for the season and further hundreds against Middlesex, who finished runners-up in Division One, were big ones: 143 at Lord’s in June and 173 in the return match at New Road.
Making runs against the best two teams in the country shows Fell’s resolve.
“The one that really stands out is the hundred against Yorkshire,” he said. “I felt I played well that day, and with it being in front of a home crowd in the first game of the season against the champions, made it that extra bit special.
“It gave me a lot of confidence that I could make the step up from Division Two and it set up the season nicely for me.”
At the end of a season which had established Fell as a player of rich potential, he had to deal with some difficult news. In October, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. It came as an obvious shock and surgery followed which, thankfully, was successful. Tests showed the cancer had not spread and although he will require regular check-ups, he was allowed to head to Perth in December for a stint of club cricket.
“Everything seems to be okay on that front at the moment,” said Fell. “My recent results have been promising and so it’s just a matter of having my monthly appointments and keeping an eye on things. I’m just very lucky I’ve had the opportunity to come out to Australia this winter and been able to focus on my cricket again.”
Despite Fell’s personal success, Worcestershire were comfortably relegated, winning just three games and losing ten. They have found themselves flitting between the divisions since the Championship was split in 2000. In that time, they have managed five promotions but only once, in 2011, have they avoided immediate relegation.
“I think there is a fairly obvious step up to Division One in the sense that the depth of bowling attacks is generally better in Division One,” said Fell. “You tend to find yourself up against four or five quality bowlers and so there is very little let-up, meaning you need to battle even more than normal for every run.”
Not that he thinks it will be easy in the second division, saying: “Division Two poses different challenges because the wickets generally aren’t as good, being non-Test grounds so scoring runs can be as much of a battle at times.”
Fell’s technique is compact with an open but upright stance, holding the bat aloft and then moving his front foot slightly forward just before the ball is bowled. The best techniques are often the simplest and Fell’s doesn’t look to have too many things that can go wrong.
“I think technically I feel in a fairly good place,” he said. “I like to keep things as simple as possible and just work on playing the ball late and straight. Over in Perth this winter I’ve done a fair amount of work on my back foot game as I feel that’s an area that can definitely be improved, as well as work against spin.
“I think it’s just a case of being confident in my strengths that brought me success last year and looking to make those strengths even better.”
With Moeen Ali likely to be away with England for long periods this season, Worcestershire will be relying on Fell to help propel them back to Division One. It is also an important season for Fell, one when he hopes to back up last season’s performance and, perhaps, do even better. It will be interesting to see how he fares now bowling attacks will be targeting him.
“The aim is to regain Division One status as I know that’s where we feel we should be,” he said. “On a personal level, it would be nice to make 1,000 runs again and, perhaps, push even further beyond that, but I don’t really like thinking about that too much. The season’s a long old slog and you can’t be looking too far ahead.”
Whilst his red ball cricket developed well last season, he made smaller strides in the one-day format and made only two half centuries in seven games. That is something he is looking to address.
“In one-day cricket I’d very much like to improve on last season. I’m yet to make a hundred in that form so it would be nice to get that off my back. As a team, we’ve underachieved a bit in 50-over cricket so it would be great to push for a Lord’s final. I don’t see any reason why we can’t as we have an excellent white ball squad, as shown in the t20 Blast the last few years.
“As for the t20, I think I’m most likely to be sat in the stands with a pint as opposed to playing! But it’s something I’d love to be involved in so it’s important for me to keep working on my t20 game and put in a case to be selected.”
With his health in good shape, there is plenty for Fell to look forward to. Although it is far too early to be talking about him being a future international player, with England’s top order continuing to struggle on the tour of South Africa, it is a good time to be a young English batsman.
Fell will be hoping that another good season in 2016 may see him rise up that pecking order.
This piece originally featured in The Cricket Paper, Friday February 12 2016
