PETER Trego is among several Somerset players to be handed opportunities to impress during this season’s Royal London One-Day Cup campaign.

Having reached the knockout rounds in each of the past two seasons, Somerset begin their 2018 South Group campaign against Surrey at The Oval tomorrow.

Trego has sat out Somerset’s unbeaten start to the County Championship season but has made regular appearances for the 2nd XI as captain.

Somerset head coach Jason Kerr told the County Gazette: “We will make a few changes.

“Peter Trego and Johann Myburgh will come back in and it is a good opportunity to have a look at Tom Banton, who has had a fantastic start to the season following on from an exciting winter with the England Under-19s.

“Tom will travel with us to The Oval and we will make our final decision on the day.”

True to his word, Kerr has named Banton, Myburgh and Trego in the 13-man squad, as well as 20-year-old all-rounder Ben Green.

Josh Davey has recovered from injury to make the squad, but the match has come too soon for his fellow seamer Jamie Overton.

Top order batsmen George Bartlett, Eddie Byrom and Matt Renshaw have not been selected. 

Somerset squad to face Surrey:
Tom Abell (c), Tom Banton, Josh Davey, Steve Davies (w), Ben Green, Lewis Gregory, Tim Groenewald, James Hildreth, Johann Myburgh, Craig Overton, Peter Trego, Roelof van der Merwe, Max Waller

Dom Bess does not feature, having been selected in England’s squad for next week’s first Test against Pakistan at Lord’s.

“Dom links up with England on Sunday but he won’t play on Friday,” Kerr said.

“It’s important that he is fully focused and prepared on the challenge to come.”

Bess has still not played a 50-over match for Somerset, and his absence ensures the spin burden is shared by Max Waller and Roelof van der Merwe, who hit a stunning unbeaten 165 in last year’s fixture against Surrey.

Tom Abell, who has started the season well with bat and ball, leads the one-day side for the first time tomorrow having replaced the departed Jim Allenby as captain.

On his skipper, Kerr said: “Tom is going from strength to strength as a captain and this will be another valuable experience for him.

“He will make mistakes, like we all do, but he will learn an awful lot along the way.

“It is a young and dynamic team that he is leading so it’s an exciting challenge for him.

“One-day cricket is about enjoying yourself and I will be encouraging our players to do just that.

“I am happy to see anything they have been practising displayed out in the middle.

“We have been playing some really good cricket so far this season so it’s up to us to carry that momentum forwards into this competition.”

Tomorrow’s game is followed quickly by the visit of Glamorgan to Taunton on Sunday, and Somerset then take on Sussex at the Cooper Associates County Ground on Tuesday as they go in search of their first List A trophy since 2001 - both games start at 11am.