PURE is the nickname given to Tom Abell by his Somerset teammates, and from the outside, it looks to be a good fit.

Baby-faced, clean-cut and eloquently spoken, the youngster, who turned 22 at the beginning of March, is new to the hype and hustings of a season build-up, but doesn’t seem fazed.

It’s a theme – not being fazed – for Abell, who slotted in so seamlessly at the top of the order, midway through a testing season for Somerset, and one that saw the Taunton-born prodigy register his maiden first class hundred and crowned LV Breakthrough Player of the Season.

For anyone who has watched Abell go about his business in the middle, pure is also an apt description of his batting style; strong off his pads, a confident driver, and in possession of the most effortless of back foot pushes.

But the former Taunton School pupil knows he won't be able to rely on the mystery of being the new kid on the block this season, and plans on how to dismiss him will already have been drawn up.

“When you start out, being a new face is something that probably works in your favour, but now having played a bit, I‘m sure teams will be aware of my strengths and weaknesses,” says Abell.

“So that’s something that I’ve been working on over the winter, trying to play to my strengths and improve on my weaknesses to make it hard for opposition sides, and I’m pretty happy with where I am at the moment, going into the season.

“It’s always pretty exciting time of the year, last year I didn’t start off in the side, so it’s all pretty new for me going into the season, but I’m thoroughly looking forward to it and hopefully I can progress from where I left off last year.”

Aside from his clean-cut persona, there is a fierce determination about Abell, and the sort of assurance and understanding of his own game, usually associated with the most hardened of county pros.

And thanks to some shrewd winter recruitment at Taunton, Abell will find himself sandwiched between just under 48,000 first class runs at the top of the Somerset order - with Marcus Trescothick and Chris Rogers at numbers one and three.

But despite feeling mildly overawed by his top-order company, the youngster is keen to pull his weight alongside two players with 19 test centuries between them.

“I probably feel a little bit out of my depth, bang in amongst those guys,” he says.

“They’re quality and the number of runs they have scored speaks for itself and I guess for any youngster, getting to bat in that top-order is pretty surreal and I couldn’t have asked for too much more.

“They’ve all been great with me, helping me to learn things and I’m in a very fortunate position, but I don’t want to rely on those three to be scoring the runs, I want to pull my weight at the top of the order and contribute to the team.

“Early season is definitely a challenging time, especially at the top of the order where you’ve got to be really disciplined and look to leave well and play straight, because the ball will be nipping around a lot.

“I guess as the season progresses, pitches become slightly better, but still you’ve got to work hard at the start of your innings in every game no matter what the conditions are – I’ll be looking to really try and work hard at the start of my innings and if I can establish myself then things will get a bit easier, after spending some time out there.

“I guess you’ve just got to be really clear in your game and I think I’ve got a pretty good understanding of my game and my strengths and weaknesses at the moment.

“I think it’s just about sticking to that and not giving the opposition a sniff, so that’ll be a key thing, just to stick to my game plan, especially when the ball is doing a bit.”

Expectations are high and for Abell, there is no hiding from that – and while the youngster demonstrates an understanding of these expectations and the pressures that accompany them, he insists they are no greater than the internal pressure to perform that he places on himself.

“I was absolutely delighted to receive the LV Breakthrough award and it came as a bit of surprise, if I’m honest,” he says.

“I put a fair bit of pressure on myself, but I don’t think that necessarily enhances the pressure because I see it as ‘I had a decent enough year last year, but that’s just the start for me’ and I want to make sure I back it up this year – so there’s no more pressure than what I put on myself.

“As a batter, I think getting 1,000 runs is considered a pretty strong season, but obviously I’ll be looking to get as many as I can and I felt I learned a lot last year having been given the opportunity to open the batting, so hopefully I can take that forward this year and make an impact at the top of the order.”

The inaugural winner of the LV Breakthrough award in 2012 was a certain J. Root, so what does Abell think of following in the Yorkshireman’s footsteps and collecting international honours in the not too distant future?

“Currently it’s not something that crosses my mind at all, obviously I’ve got an ambition to play for England down the line, but I’m under no illusions at the moment and I’ve got a long way to go.”

It’s not the first ‘Root-comparison’ to be made and won’t be the last, with Marcus Trescothick last season saying that Abell was ‘in the mould’ of the England star.

It’s early days and perhaps far too soon to predict the career path of a young man just starting out in county cricket, but with ability and application in abundance, he’s on the right path – pure and simple.