RISING star Tom Alsop is riding the crest of a wave at the moment and is savouring every second of his blossoming senior career at Hampshire.

After progressing through the south coast club’s academy, the 20-year-old left-hander, who hails from Rowde, fully announced himself on the senior stage by scoring his maiden first-team century in Hampshire’s six-run One-Day Cup victory over Surrey earlier this month.

Alsop then followed up his fine knock of 116 by making his debut in the T20 Blast at Somerset on Sunday, June 19, continuing a whirlwind season so far, which has also seen the former England U19 international make three County Championship appearances, opening the batting in two.

With Hampshire not in action last week as they built up to Friday night’s T20 clash with Essex, the Wiltshire youngster, who made his first-team debut as a 17-year-old when he played 15 overs of a YB40 clash against Lancashire in May 2013, was finally allowed some time to reflect on his achievements so far this summer but from here on out, he won’t be resting on his laurels.

“It’s been a pretty amazing few weeks for me. At the start of the season, it was my goal to cement my place in the first team and I’ve managed to do that,” said Alsop, who continues to play for boyhood side Potterne.

“It was really humbling to receive all of the messages and congratulations that I got after the century and it was just a great feeling to get that first 100 as it’s something I’d wanted to get for a while.

“I’ve made my T20 debut now too, but it’s a shame that we didn’t get the right result (Hampshire lost by six wickets at Somerset).

“When you’re in form and things are going well, you just want to play as much cricket as you can.

“We’ve got a great bunch of guys at Hampshire and coming into the team hasn’t been hard. I’ve tried to listen to advice from Michael Carberry because, like me, he’s left-handed, but to be honest, all of the guys have been great in making me feel comfortable.

“There’s a lot of the season left, so I’m going to concentrate on enjoying it and learning as much as I can.”