Somerset coach Jason Kerr backs James Rew to follow in Jos Buttler's footsteps

South Wales Guardian

16-05-2025

The uncapped 21-year-old will be part of Ben Stokes' squad for next week's one-off fixture against Zimbabwe, replacing the injured Jordan Cox as cover for the top seven having racked up his 10th first-class century earlier this month.
He was cleared to play against Sussex in the latest round of Rothesay County Championship games, making a Bazball-esque 46 off 47 balls on Friday, and will head to Trent Bridge at the conclusion to train with the Test team.
His path has been strikingly similar to former one-day captain Buttler's, both wicketkeeper-batters going from King's College in Taunton to the Somerset first team and quickly on to the national side.
And Kerr has a familiar feeling as Rew prepares to enter the England scene.
'I look back to Jos coming through and thinking, 'it's inevitable he'll get international recognition sooner rather than later'. With Rewy you always felt he had that little something too,' he told the PA news agency.
'There's not so much of a comparison with who they are as people, but it's there in the questions they ask you and the way they approach their practice. When Jos was a young player he wouldn't ask the questions other young players did. Same thing with Rewy.
'They've got a real curiosity about the game and as a coach that excites you, they challenge you. They just want to get better and they see the game differently.
'He's a great lad and when he's working you can just see someone so hungry to better themselves.'
While Rew's debut will likely have to wait a little longer, only an injury would catapult him into the XI at Nottingham, Kerr has no qualms about how he would respond.
'We always talk as coaches about playing each ball on its merits and he has an innate ability to do that. He always plays the ball, never the occasion, never the bowler,' he said.
'He'll enjoy the environment and see it as an opportunity to grow and learn. A huge amount of the challenge is dealing with the occasion and the expectation. He's got great maturity.
'If he gets the opportunity now or in the near future, we back him 100 per cent.'
Meanwhile, England are preparing to reduce the number of analysts involved with the men's senior team. Senior analyst Nathan Leamon, who had a particularly close working relationship with World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan, and white-ball analyst Freddie Wilde are understood to be moving on.
Head coach Brendon McCullum, who moved from a Test-only role to oversee all formats at the start of the year, is keen not to overload his players with too much information and is keen to see them solve problems under their own steam. Test skipper Ben Stokes and Harry Brook, the recently-appointed white-ball captain, both favour an instinctive approach, underpinned by data but not led by it.