Statistics correct on 11 September 2026
For all the inconsistency that Bazball brought in performance, the one consistency was selection – England’s batting order has actually been remarkably difficult to break into.
Joe Root is England’s greatest Test run scorer. Harry Brook averages numbers that would look unrealistic on Cricket Captain. Ben Duckett has transformed himself into an international opener. Jacob Bethell has already arrived.
The more interesting question is what comes next.
So who are the best young English batsmen in 2026, and which of England’s batting prospects are most likely to eventually reach Test cricket?
Some of the answer is already obvious. James Rew has made his Test debut after piling up runs for Somerset. Rehan Ahmed, despite ostensibly being a leg-spinner, spent much of 2025 batting like somebody who had forgotten that was supposed to be his secondary skill.
Behind them is an increasingly interesting group of county batsmen.
Ben McKinney is a 6ft 6in left-handed opener making hundreds for Durham. James Coles already has more than 3,000 first-class runs. Asa Tribe keeps making runs in basically every form of cricket he plays.
And then there are the teenagers.
Thomas Rew, Ben Dawkins and Ben Mayes have all made first-class hundreds before their 20th birthdays. Rocky Flintoff is already playing regular senior cricket. Joe Moores was doing the same before he had even turned 18.
Having already ranked the 20 best young English fast bowlers, 10 best young English spinners and 10 best young english wicketkeepers it therefore seemed only fair to give the batsmen a turn.
A number of these players also featured in my wider ranking of the 30 best young English cricketers aged 23 and under, but this list is deliberately narrower. Bowling does not count here. Neither does being a useful all-rounder.
This is about the batting.
Here are the 20 best young English batsmen and batting prospects aged 23 and under in 2026.
How have the players been ranked?
This is not simply a list of the young batsmen who have scored the most county runs.
Performances in senior cricket matter most, but age, England pathway, batting position and long-term potential have also been considered.
That means an 18-year-old already making first-class hundreds gets considerably more credit than a 23-year-old producing similar numbers.
Players must be aged 23 or under on 15 September 2026 and have played senior professional cricket.
Wicketkeepers and all-rounders are eligible, but only their batting has been considered. Rehan Ahmed does not get any extra credit for taking Test wickets and Ben Kellaway’s ability to bowl with either arm, entertaining though it is, will not help him here.
That distinction matters.
This is a ranking of the best young English batsmen, not the best young English cricketers.
Statistics are correct to 11 September 2026 unless otherwise stated.
The 20 Best Young English Batsmen in 2026
| Rank | Player | County | Age | Batting role |
| 1 | Jacob Bethell | Warwickshire | 22 | Left-handed middle-order batter |
| 2 | James Rew | Somerset | 22 | Left-handed wicketkeeper-batter |
| 3 | Rehan Ahmed | Leicestershire | 22 | Right-handed top-order batter |
| 4 | Ben McKinney | Durham | 21 | Left-handed opening batter |
| 5 | Thomas Rew | Somerset | 18 | Right-handed wicketkeeper-batter |
| 6 | James Coles | Sussex | 22 | Left-handed middle-order batter |
| 7 | Asa Tribe | Glamorgan | 22 | Right-handed top-order batter |
| 8 | Ben Kellaway | Glamorgan | 22 | Right-handed batter |
| 9 | Charlie Allison | Essex | 21 | Right-handed top-order batter |
| 10 | Josh Thomas | Somerset | 21 | Left-handed opening batter |
| 11 | Freddie McCann | Nottinghamshire | 21 | Left-handed top-order batter |
| 12 | James Sales | Northamptonshire | 23 | Right-handed middle-order batter |
| 13 | Matthew Hurst | Lancashire | 22 | Right-handed wicketkeeper-batter |
| 14 | Ben Dawkins | Kent | 19 | Left-handed opening batter |
| 15 | Ben Mayes | Hampshire | 18 | Right-handed wicketkeeper-batter |
| 16 | Tom Prest | Hampshire | 23 | Right-handed middle-order batter |
| 17 | Noah Thain | Essex | 21 | Right-handed batter |
| 18 | Rocky Flintoff | Lancashire | 18 | Right-handed middle-order batter |
| 19 | Will Luxton | Yorkshire | 23 | Right-handed top-order batter |
| 20 | Dan Lategan | Worcestershire | 20 | Left-handed opening batter |
20. Dan Lategan — Worcestershire
Age: 20 • Batting: Left-handed • Role: Opening batter
2026 Championship runs: 719 • 2026 Championship average: 32.68 • High score: 144
Dan Lategan is not here because of a huge body of work – he is here because of one innings that was difficult to ignore.
Worcestershire were set 279 to win against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham in August. Lategan made 144 from 163 balls, shared a 244-run opening stand with Jake Libby and turned what could have been a fairly awkward fourth-innings chase into an eight-wicket win.
Not bad for a 20-year-old opener.
He has 484 Championship runs at 32.27 this season, which is solid rather than spectacular. But the age and the position matter.
England have spent enough of the last decade searching for Test openers to know that they do not grow on trees.
One hundred does not make Lategan a future England player (and there is the small wrinkle that he is not yet eligible for England today).
Making 144 in the fourth innings of a Championship match at 20 is, however, a pretty good way of getting onto the list.
19. Will Luxton — Yorkshire
Age: 23 • Batting: Right-handed • Role: Top-order batter
FC matches: 18 • FC runs: 650 • High score: 167
Will Luxton is one of the older players here, so he does not get much help from projection.
At 23, you need some actual runs and he has started finding them.
Luxton made his maiden first-class hundred against Warwickshire at Scarborough in June and kept going to 167 from 261 balls.
His first-class record now stands at 750 runs from 18 matches at 27.77.
That is not enough on its own to get particularly excited about. The 167 matters because it answered one of the obvious questions around him: could the youth-level promise translate into a proper Championship innings?
Yes, now he needs to do it again and again.
That is why Luxton is 19th rather than 12th.
18. Rocky Flintoff — Lancashire Batting Prospect
Age: 18 • Batting: Right-handed • Role: Middle-order batter
List A runs: 495 • List A average: 38.07 • High score: 123
There is a reasonable chance that putting Rocky Flintoff 18th looks ridiculous in five years.
For now, there has to be some reward for actually scoring the runs.
His List A record is already good: 495 runs at 38.07, including a maiden senior hundred of 123.
His first-class record is much less impressive: 275 runs at 17.18 from nine matches, with a high score of 65.
The surname inevitably creates attention, but it can also make it too easy to assume that everything will work out.
Flintoff is not on this list because his dad was quite good at cricket. He is here because very few English batsmen are playing this much senior cricket at 18 and because the physical tools and age give him one of the higher ceilings in the group.
17. Noah Thain — Essex
Age: 21 • Batting: Right-handed • Role: Batter/all-rounder
List A runs: 1,019 • List A average: 42.45 • List A hundreds: 2
Noah Thain’s July was ridiculous.
Across eight One-Day Cup innings, he scored 571 runs from 631 balls. He made 74 against Middlesex and then followed it with 102 against Sussex and 109 against Hampshire.
Those were the first two professional hundreds of his career. His overall List A record now stands at 1,019 runs at 42.45, with two hundreds and eight fifties.
The red-ball case is less convincing.
Thain has 602 first-class runs at 21.50 and is yet to make a first-class hundred – that is why he is 17th rather than much higher.
If we were ranking young white-ball batsmen, he would have a stronger case. If we are trying to work out who might eventually play Test cricket, there is still more to prove.
Still, a 21-year-old making back-to-back professional hundreds deserves some attention.
16. Tom Prest — Hampshire
Age: 23 • Batting: Right-handed • Role: Middle-order batter
FC runs: 1,734 • FC average: 29.38 • FC hundreds: 4
Tom Prest has been a prospect for so long that it is easy to forget he is still eligible for this list.
He made his Hampshire debut in 2021, captained England to the final of the 2022 U19 World Cup and has now played 38 first-class matches.
The batting record is decent: 1,734 runs at 29.38, with four hundreds and five fifties.
The problem is that decent is no longer quite enough, and the England batting production line seems to be so efficient that a 23 year old averaging 30 does not create that much excitement.
Prest is 23 now. Thomas Rew, Ben Dawkins and Ben Mayes have several years before they get there.
That does not make Prest a worse player than them today. It does mean there is less room to assume the next leap is coming.
Still, four first-class hundreds is four more than some very fashionable prospects ever manage.
15. Ben Mayes — Hampshire Teenage Wicketkeeper-Batsman
Age: 18 • Batting: Right-handed • Role: Wicketkeeper-batter
FC runs: 394 • FC average: 23.17 • FC high score: 105
There is not yet much senior cricket to go on with Ben Mayes. There is, however, quite a lot to get excited about.
Mayes has already scored 294 first-class runs from nine matches, including a hundred, before his 19th birthday.
At the 2026 U19 World Cup he was even better: 444 runs at 74.00, including a high score of 191.
Age-group cricket comes with the usual health warning: plenty of batsmen have bullied teenagers and then discovered that county professionals are rather less accommodating.
Mayes has at least started to show that his runs travel.
Making a first-class hundred at 18 matters.
The fact he also keeps wicket only makes the package more interesting.
14. Ben Dawkins — Kent Opening Batsman
Age: 19 • Batting: Left-handed • Role: Opening batter
FC runs: 559 • FC average: 34.93 • FC high score: 180
Ben Dawkins did not make his maiden first-class hundred and then immediately throw it away.
He made 180. More importantly, he faced 302 balls doing it.
That innings against Durham came as part of a Kent-record 303-run partnership with Sam Northeast and offered exactly the sort of evidence you want from a teenage opener.
His early first-class record is already respectable: 559 runs at 34.93 from ten matches, with five fifties alongside that hundred.
There will always be exciting young players who can hit a white ball into the stands.
A 19-year-old left-handed opener capable of batting for 300 balls is rather more interesting.
That is why I have Dawkins above Mayes today.
Mayes probably has the higher ceiling. Dawkins has already produced the more convincing senior red-ball innings.
13. Matthew Hurst — Lancashire
Age: 22 • Batting: Right-handed • Role: Wicketkeeper-batter
FC runs: 1,896 • FC average: 31.60 • FC fifties: 12
Matthew Hurst is probably one of the least fashionable names in this part of the list.
He might also be one of the safest bets.
At 22 he already has 1,896 first-class runs at 31.60, including two hundreds and 12 fifties.
He keeps wicket. He can bat in the middle order and Lancashire have also used him as an opener.
There is no single ridiculous statistic here. No 191 at a U19 World Cup. No double century. No famous surname.
Just a fairly substantial body of senior cricket at a young age.
That sounds less exciting but it is also quite often how international cricketers emerge.
12. James Sales — Northamptonshire
Age: 23 • Batting: Right-handed • Role: Middle-order batter/all-rounder
FC runs: 2,111 • FC average: 33.50 • FC hundreds: 5
James Sales is probably the player most likely to make somebody scroll back to the table and wonder whether I have made a mistake.
I don’t think I have.
Sales has 2,111 first-class runs at 33.50, including five hundreds and nine fifties.
More importantly, he has scored 704 Championship runs at 54.15 this season.
There are considerably more fashionable names below him on this list. But none of them gets bonus points for being fashionable.
Sales is 23, so he does not have the age advantage of Dawkins or Mayes. But five first-class hundreds and a Championship average above 57 this season are actual achievements.
11. Freddie McCann — Nottinghamshire
Age: 21 • Batting: Left-handed • Role: Top-order batter
2026 ODC runs: 368 • 2026 ODC average: 36.80 • 2026 ODC high score: 91
Freddie McCann announced himself quickly. Shortly after making his Championship debut for Nottinghamshire, he scored 154 against Surrey. Another hundred followed against Warwickshire.
That was not completely unexpected – McCann had already made 174 for England U19s and looked one of the more accomplished batsmen in his age group.
His 2026 Championship has been quieter: 234 runs at 21.27 from eight matches, with a high score of 38 not out.
The One-Day Cup has gone better, with 368 runs at 36.80 and three fifties.
That slightly quieter red-ball season is why he sits just outside the top ten. But three first-class hundreds by 21 is still a very useful starting point.
10. Josh Thomas — Somerset Opening Batsman
Age: 21 • Batting: Left-handed • Role: Opening batter
2026 Championship runs: 815 • 2026 Championship average: 38.81 • 2026 hundreds: 3
If you had asked most England supporters in April to name the ten best young batsmen in the country, Josh Thomas probably would not have appeared very often.
Eight hundred and fifteen Division One runs later, that is becoming difficult to justify.
Thomas has scored those runs at 38.81, made three hundreds and established himself at the top of the order for Somerset despite a revolving cast of opening partners. But his emergence has prevented Somerset from continuing with the ‘let a couple of all-rounders have a go at the top of the order’ experiment.
As of 11 September, only three players have scored more runs in Division One.
There are more famous players below him. There are players with more England age-group caps and more hype. But Thomas currently has something more useful — runs.
9. Charlie Allison — Essex Batting Prospect
Age: 21 • Batting: Right-handed • Role: Top-order batter
2026 Championship runs: 773 • 2026 Championship average: 38.65 • 2026 high score: 114
Charlie Allison has quietly built one of the strongest all-round batting cases on this list.
There has been nothing particularly quiet about his 2026. Allison has scored 773 Championship runs at 38.65 and sits among the leading run scorers in Division One.
That follows a 2025 season in which Essex named him their Player of the Year, Players’ Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year.
He can bat at the top. He can move into the middle. He has made runs in both red-ball and white-ball cricket.
And he is still only 21.
Allison does not have the obvious hook of McKinney’s height, Flintoff’s surname or the Rew family apparently producing wicketkeeper-batsmen on an industrial scale.
He just keeps scoring runs.
The excellent Steve James also picked Allison out in The Times on 1 September 2026, arguing that his technique could eventually push him up the order to open.
8. Ben Kellaway — Glamorgan
Age: 22 • Batting: Right-handed • Role: Batter/all-rounder
FC runs: 1,470 • FC average: 35.85 • FC hundreds: 3
Ben Kellaway is probably still best known outside Glamorgan for being able to bowl both right-arm off-spin and left-arm orthodox.
That is admittedly quite fun, it is also increasingly beside the point.
Kellaway has 1,470 first-class runs at 35.85, including three hundreds and nine fifties. His high score is 181 not out. Those are serious batting numbers.
For the purposes of this ranking, he could bowl right-arm seam, left-arm wrist-spin and underarm off the wrong foot and it would make no difference – only the batting counts.
And the batting is now good enough to put him eighth.
7. Asa Tribe — Glamorgan
Age: 22 • Batting: Right-handed • Role: Top-order batter
FC runs: 1,778 • FC average: 36.28 • List A average: 59.41
Asa Tribe has developed an irritating habit for opposition bowlers: he makes runs in almost everything.
His first-class record stands at 1,778 runs at 36.28, including four hundreds and nine fifties.
His List A numbers are even better: 1,426 runs at 59.41, with five hundreds and seven fifties.
Then there is the Lions evidence. Tribe made an unbeaten 129 against Australia A in 2025 and has remained in England’s development setup.
There is less hype around him than some of the players above and below, that might partly be the Glamorgan effect.
Runs in Cardiff tend to generate fewer newspaper columns than runs at Lord’s or The Oval.
But England’s selectors should be capable of finding the M4 to look at him and some of his other exciting Glamorgan colleagues.
6. James Coles — Sussex and England Lions Batter
Age: 22 • Batting: Left-handed • Role: Middle-order batter
FC runs: 3,553 • FC average: 37.79 • FC hundreds: 9
James Coles has already done an awful lot of batting for somebody who is still 22.
He has developed an impressive cricketing CV: 3,553 first-class runs at 37.79, including nine hundreds; 1,032 Championship runs at 46.90 in 2025; and an unbeaten 224 against Glamorgan in 2026.
He has also made runs for England Lions and was picked up by London Spirit in the 2026 Hundred auction for £390,000 (the most expensive player in the auction).
If this ranking were simply asking who is the best county batsman today, Coles could reasonably be third or fourth.
He drops to sixth because age matters and because Thomas Rew and Ben McKinney are producing unusual things even younger.
But the body of work is difficult to argue with.
5. Thomas Rew — Somerset Teenage Batting Prospect
Age: 18 • Batting: Right-handed • Role: Wicketkeeper-batter
FC runs: 475 • FC average: 67.85 • FC hundreds: 2
This is where the age adjustment starts doing some fairly serious heavy lifting.
Thomas Rew has played four first-class matches, normally that would be nowhere near enough to put somebody fifth on a list like this.
But those four matches have been quite impressive: he has scored 475 runs at 67.85, with two hundreds, and he is 18.
Small sample? Obviously.
But there comes a point where being 18 becomes part of the statistic.
Rew also captained England at the U19 World Cup, scored 330 runs at the tournament and made 110 in the semi-final against Australia.
His first 18 senior T20 matches have produced 314 runs at a strike rate of 153.17.
His older brother is No.2 on this list. The idea that Thomas might eventually be the better Rew sounds slightly ridiculous, but it is eminently possible.
4. Ben McKinney — Durham and England Lions Opener
Age: 21 • Batting: Left-handed • Role: Opening batter
FC hundreds: 6 • FC high score: 244 • 2026 hundreds: 3
England have spent most of the last decade trying to find Test openers.
A 6ft 6in, 21-year-old, left-handed opener with five first-class hundreds therefore feels worth paying attention to.
McKinney became Durham’s youngest first-class double centurion when he made 244 against Gloucestershire earlier this season.
He then made 184 against Middlesex in September, his third hundred of the summer.
His potential and these runs have brought him front and centre in England’s thinking. McKinney has captained England U19s, played for the Lions and increasingly looks like the most obvious specialist opener in this age group.
That is also why he featured prominently when I tried to predict England’s Test XI in 2030.
There is still a fairly large jump between Durham and opening in a Test match, but McKinney is building the right sort of CV.
3. Rehan Ahmed — Leicestershire and England Batter
Age: 22 • Batting: Right-handed • Role: Top-order batter/all-rounder
FC runs: 2,382 • FC average: 32.63 • FC hundreds: 7
It is worth conducting a small thought experiment with Rehan Ahmed.
Forget he bowls leg-spin and forget he became England’s youngest male Test cricketer primarily because of that bowling.
Just look at the batting. In the 2025 County Championship, aged 20, Rehan made five hundreds in 16 innings.
At one stage, he made four centuries in five innings.
If a specialist 20-year-old batsman did that, we would spend quite a lot more time talking about him.
His overall first-class record now stands at 2,382 runs at 32.63, with seven hundreds.
He was already one of the highest-ranked players in my wider look at the best young English cricketers aged 23 and under, but looking only at the batting arguably makes his case even more interesting.
His 2026 batting has been quieter, which is why he is third rather than first.
But six first-class hundreds by 22 is not the record of a bowler who can bat a bit.
Rehan Ahmed is a genuine top-order batting prospect who also happens to bowl Test-match leg-spin. He could become a top-five batsman, or maybe Ben Stokes’ eventual replacement at number 6/7 in the test team.
2. James Rew — Somerset and England Wicketkeeper-Batsman
Age: 22 • Batting: Left-handed • Role: Wicketkeeper-batter
FC runs: 4,207 • FC average: 41.65 • FC hundreds: 12
James Rew has been making first-class hundreds for so long that it is mildly alarming to discover he is still only 22.
He has 4,207 first-class runs at 41.65, with 12 hundreds and 20 fifties.
Some of the players on this list require projection. Rew can simply point to his body of work and an ever-expanding list of accolades: by 21, he had become the youngest Englishman since Denis Compton to reach ten first-class hundreds, and he already had a double century and multiple thousand-run seasons behind him.
Rew has been one of the best young batsmen in county cricket for several seasons and has now made the inevitable progression into England’s Test setup.
That is also why he was an obvious name when I looked at what England’s Test team could look like in 2030.
The wicketkeeping only strengthens the case.
Nobody below him can match the combination of age and sustained first-class production.
Except, perhaps, the player above him.
And possibly his younger brother in a few years, which must be getting irritating.
1. Jacob Bethell — England’s Best Young Batsman?
Age: 22 • Batting: Left-handed • Role: Middle-order batter
Test runs: 579 • Test average: 34.05 • Test high score: 154
There is not really another choice.
Jacob Bethell is No.1 because he has already done the thing everyone else on this list is trying to do – he has made runs for England.
Bethell also finished top of my wider ranking of the 30 best young English cricketers, and nothing that has happened since has really weakened that case.
His domestic first-class record was modest enough that his rapid elevation into the Test team attracted understandable scepticism.
England were selecting talent and potential rather than rewarding years of county dominance.
It worked.
Bethell has scored 579 Test runs at 34.05, with a high score of 154.
He has shown that he can handle international attacks and has already become one of England’s most exciting young players across formats.
There are still questions.
Where does he ultimately bat in the Test side? No.3? No.5? Somewhere else entirely?
Can he turn flashes of brilliance into the sort of boringly relentless run production that Root has made look normal?
Those are nice questions to have about a 22-year-old.
Everyone else here is being ranked partly on what they might become.
Bethell is No.1 because he has already started becoming it.
Five Young English Batsmen Who Narrowly Missed Out
Joe Moores — Lancashire
Moores misses the final 20 by very little.
He turns 18 in September 2026 and has already appeared in first-class, List A and T20 cricket, as well as the Hundred.
His List A record stands at 270 runs at 33.75 with a strike rate of 115.87.
The numbers are not yet enough. The fact we are even discussing him before his 18th birthday is the interesting bit.
Ollie Sykes — Surrey
Sykes was another difficult omission.
His List A record is excellent: 654 runs at 40.87, including a hundred and four fifties.
The problem is opportunity in red-ball cricket.
His first-class sample remains tiny.
If this were a ranking purely of young white-ball batsmen, he would comfortably make the 20.
Jack Hope-Bell — Glamorgan
Hope-Bell made 123 on his Glamorgan first-team debut at 19, becoming the youngest List A centurion in the county’s history.
He finished his eight List A matches with 293 runs at 41.85.
Eight senior matches are simply too few.
Another good summer and he could move a long way up this list.
Archie Vaughan — Somerset
Perhaps the most recognisable omission.
Vaughan is already a useful county cricketer and his off-spin significantly strengthens his overall case.
The problem is that this is a batting ranking.
His first-class batting record stands at 1,023 runs at 24.35, with four fifties and no hundreds.
If we were ranking all-rounders, he would be comfortably inside the 20.
We are not.
Hamza Shaikh — Warwickshire
Shaikh’s England U19 record is excellent.
He has 396 U19 Test runs at 56.57 and 592 U19 ODI runs at 53.81.
The senior red-ball record has not yet caught up: 384 first-class runs at 19.20.
He remains a serious prospect.
A proper Championship breakthrough would make the case much easier.
Also worth watching are Caleb Falconer and Ekansh Singh, both of whom have already shown plenty for England U19s.
Who are England’s best young opening batsmen?
Perhaps the most encouraging part of the list is the number of genuine young openers.
Ben McKinney is the standout.
At 21 he already has six first-class hundreds, including 244, and his age, size and left-handedness make him the most obvious long-term Test opening prospect.
Behind him, Josh Thomas has scored 815 Division One runs in 2026, Ben Dawkins has made 180 for Kent while still a teenager and Dan Lategan has produced a match-winning fourth-innings hundred for Worcestershire.
Freddie McCann can also bat near the top.
England spent much of the decade after Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook searching for Test openers.
The next generation at least gives the selectors some options.
Who is the best teenage batsman in England?
Thomas Rew.
There are several very good candidates.
Ben Dawkins has 559 first-class runs at 34.93 and a high score of 180. Ben Mayes was one of the outstanding batsmen at the U19 World Cup. Rocky Flintoff has been playing senior cricket well ahead of schedule. Joe Moores was a county regular before turning 18.
But Rew has 475 first-class runs at 67.85, including two hundreds.
He is 18.
That is worth repeating occasionally.
Who are the best young batsmen in county cricket?
If we ignore international cricket and look primarily at performances in the County Championship, James Rew and James Coles have the strongest established records.
Rew has 4,207 first-class runs at 41.65 with 12 hundreds, while Coles has passed 3,000 first-class runs and produced a 1,000-run Championship season.
The 2026 season has also strengthened the cases of several players further down the list.
Josh Thomas has 815 Division One runs, Charlie Allison has 773 and James Sales is averaging 54.15 in the Championship.
Ben McKinney, meanwhile, has produced the biggest individual innings of the group with his 244 for Durham.
There is therefore a distinction between the best young county batsmen today and the players with the highest long-term ceilings.
This ranking tries to account for both.
Which young English batsmen could play Test cricket?
Jacob Bethell and James Rew have already reached Test cricket, while Rehan Ahmed has played Tests primarily as an all-rounder.
Of those yet to establish themselves at that level, Ben McKinney looks the most obvious candidate.
His position helps.
England will always need specialist openers, and McKinney’s combination of age, height, left-handedness and Championship production makes him particularly interesting.
James Coles and Asa Tribe are probably closer than their public profiles suggest.
Thomas Rew might have the highest ceiling of anyone who has not yet played for England.
It is also why so many of these names appeared when I tried to predict England’s Test XI in 2030.
The great unknown is how quickly the teenagers develop.
A lot can happen between 18 and 23.
Who could eventually replace Joe Root?
Nobody should be described as the ‘next Joe Root’.
That tends not to end well.
Root is England’s greatest Test run scorer and replacing him is unlikely to involve finding one batsman who produces exactly the same output from exactly the same position.
England will instead need several younger players to absorb the runs currently supplied by Root and the rest of the older generation.
Bethell is already part of that process.
James Rew, McKinney, Coles and Tribe are the more established candidates behind him, while Thomas Rew might have the highest ceiling of the teenagers.
The encouraging thing is that there are options.
The Verdict
The most encouraging part of the list might not actually be Bethell at No.1.
We already know Bethell can play, it is what sits behind him that may be most exciting.
James Rew has 4,207 first-class runs and 12 hundreds at 22. Rehan Ahmed has seven first-class hundreds despite supposedly being the spinner. Ben McKinney is making double hundreds as an opener. James Coles already has a 1,000-run Championship season.
Thomas Rew is averaging 67.85 at 18.
Josh Thomas and Charlie Allison have both passed 750 Division One runs this summer.
Put that alongside the depth of young fast bowling in my ranking of the 20 best young English fast bowlers and England’s longer-term Test outlook starts to look rather healthier.
Most of them will not become Test regulars, but England do not need most of them to.
Find three or four genuine Test batsmen from this group and the supposedly terrifying post-Root transition suddenly looks rather manageable.
And if both Rew brothers end up in the same England side, Somerset are going to have to find two next batsmen as they will not see too much of the Rews.
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