James Rew breaks new ground yet again as the circuit's breakout star

SAM DALLING AT TAUNTON: Even in his wildest dreams, Rew could not have imagined that 12 months on from taking to Southport's scorched fields, he would lead the County Championship both for runs scored and deliveries faced

Taunton (second day of four): Somerset 500, Hampshire 58-2 - Hampshire trail by 442 runs with eight wickets remaining

The issue with double centuries – and yes, the author is aware that such a phrase should not be thrown around lightly – is that they rapidly become very difficult to ignore.

And so as much as one might like to write about something, someone other than James Rew – say Dom Bess' heart-warming (if temporary) Somerset return, the tinkering required to the current county loan system, or Liam Dawson's four-wicket haul – he makes it extremely tough.

Rew's second season syndrome (albeit granted this is, owing to those pesky A-Level exams, his first full summer) has a wholly positive diagnosis: 952 runs; one half century; four centuries; and one double century, the last of those scored today, exactly a year on from his red-ball debut.

Even in his wildest dreams, Rew could not have imagined that 12 months on from taking to Southport's scorched fields, he would lead the County Championship both for runs scored and deliveries gleefully soaked up. And Rew still has up to eleven more knocks to come. Frightening, when you think about it, right?

Having drilled Felix Organ straight down the ground for one of 27 boundaries, Rew punched the air, removed his helmet, and, not for the first time, soaked up Taunton's generous applause. And my do they love him here, one of their own, and a very fine one at that.

^{Rew made his fifth century of the season (Harry Trump/Getty Images)}

Eventually, after he was last to fall, Shane Burger, Somerset's batting coach, was first to greet Rew with a firm handshake on the boundary's edge. Understated? Yes. But that is Rew. He is a photographer's nightmare, given the lack exuberant celebration – instead, he gives the impression that milestones are simply business as usual.

An individual score of 221 – Somerset's first double hundred since Marcus Trescothick's 2016 effort at Trent Bridge - requires little by way of context. But there is space for it, nonetheless.

Yes, this Taunton wicket is true, but Rew wandered to the middle in the game's 13th over. His side were 41 for 4 and then 80 for 5. It was situation critical.

But Rew was about as flustered as a tiger fighting off the advances of a beetle. Sharing in stands of 188 with Kasey Aldridge for the sixth-wicket, 94 with Bess for the seventh and, remarkably, 108 with Shoaib Bashir for the last, Rew first rescued Somerset and then plonked them firmly in the driving pew, seatbelt affixed.

Bashir's part in all this should not be forgotten – he strolled out with Rew on 161, bashed his way to an unbeaten 44, and afforded his partner time to accelerate onward and upward. Without Bashir, Rew would not have become Somerset's youngest first-class double-centurion.

One must also remember the quality of this Hampshire attack, one that has taken them to within whiskers of a County Championship crown.

Kyle Abbott, Mohammad Abbas and Keith Barker are widely regarded as one of, if not the, best trios on the domestic circuit. Between them they offer as stern a test as any batter can expect to receive. Add in Liam Dawson, who many recently touted for a Test recall, and James Fuller, and it is clear that there are few easy runs.

^{Somerset are in command against Hampshire (Harry Trump/Getty Images)}

But Rew both makes it look easy and is fully at ease. And his wagon wheel is a delight, all but symmetrical. Behind square, in front of it – there is little difference.

The covers took a peppering, as did midwicket. A forehand jab from a ball Barker dropped just a smidgen short was exquisite.

And for those who suggest that Rew may not have enough gears for the modern game, well reckon with this – to reach 150, Rew deployed the reverse sweep. That boundary was from his 259th ball, and a mere 38 deliveries later, Rew was again raising his M&H willow.

Amongst those 6.2 overs, were four balls that cleared the rope, a pair of them coming back-to-back from Abbas. And with those Rew surpassed Tom Kohler-Cadmore as Somerset's leading red-ball six-hitter this summer.

There is much debate as to who should be England's wicketkeeper batter right now. And while Rew is not quite in that conversation yet, much more of this and it will not be long. A winter tour of sorts beckons.

Rew was offered just the one life, James Vince putting down a regulation catch at slip when he nicked Dawson on 86. Given that the Hampshire captain also dropped Aldridge 80 runs before he departed for 88, it was little wonder he turned away as Rew reached 200.

Vince will have drawn little comfort in wrapping up Somerset's innings for an even 500. He began his innings with a 215-run deficit to make up – by the time the evening downpour came, that stood at 204.

Hampshire are, understandably, shell shocked. After an hour of day one, there seemed only one possible winner. And while that remains the case, it is no longer the visitors who are bookies favourites.

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