I'd like to think my posts to date have been fun (& hopefully entertaining too). Sadly, this post reflects on the death of young Tom Maynard, the Surrey & former Glamorgan cricket player. When I heard the news of his premature death yesterday morning, like many others, I felt stunned and am still finding it hard to make sense of it all.
I've been a Glamorgan cricket fan for 40+ years. Those who know me will know that I was a huge fan of Matt Maynard. Matt was a stylish, swashbuckling, confident batsman and clearly Tom was from the same mould. I'm not sure you could coach Tom's style of batting; it was 'in the genes'.
I first saw Tom play for Wales vs a Lashings World X1 in his dad's testimonial match in 2005 aged just 16 and I've followed his career closely ever since. He showed immense promise at Glamorgan, especially in 1-day cricket, but it wasn't until he joined Surrey did he start to really hone those skills and was developing into a potential England England
As many others have commented since the tragic news broke, not only was Tom an extremely gifted, talented cricketer but he was a really nice guy too. On the few occasions I met Tom, I found him to be a polite, quiet, unassuming lad (a real credit to his parents).
I sat watching Cricket AM on Saturday morning with my wife. As you probably know, Tom appeared alongside fellow Surrey players Jason Roy & Stuart Meaker. We discussed how Tom had everything going for him; how he appeared to have the 'world at his feet'. It's unbelievable that barely 48 hours later he'd no longer be with us.
As a cricket fan, it's sad that we'll never be able to celebrate his achievements in the game, but most important of all, my thoughts go out to his family & friends at this sad time.
RIP Tom
