Tom Maynard - 1989-2012

It's the kind of news that leaves you utterly numb, completely speechless and close to tears. The life of a young man, and prodigiously talented cricketer, was snatched away in the early hours of this morning.

Tom Maynard might've been just 23 years old but he was already a crucial part of Surrey's team as a batsman and as one of the finest fielders in the squad - he had the safest of safe hands whether at second slip or patrolling the deep in a Twenty20 match.

He had been with the club only a season and a half, after joining from Glamorgan in early 2011 and he was immediately a hit with Surrey. It was clear that this was a man worth keeping an eye on. He hit his maiden first class hundred against his old side in April and never really looked back.

He finished the season with over 1,000 first class runs and only Zander de Bruyn, 12 years his senior, hit more hundreds and no one hit more sixes in first class cricket. He ended the Twenty20 tournament as our leading run scorer and was also a key part of the CB40 title-winning side.

He wasn't a beautiful player to watch, but he was electric, always liable to hit the ball bloody miles from a perfectly good length. He hit the ball so incredibly hard that when he reached the end of his follow through with a sudden stop it was as if the bat was bending in his hands. This year his level head and clever batting stood in stark contrast to the travails of his senior top order colleagues. I always felt he batted with the tail so much better than anyone else in our batting order, always the mark of a thinking cricketer.

It felt almost inevitable that he would play for England, and I even wondered if he might make it to the World Twenty20 later this year so rapid was his progression. It is sad that his last innings for Surrey were not played with quite the vigour we would associate with Tom Maynard, but I'll only ever remember those towering sixes and leg-side thumps he scored on his way to yet another big score.

A truly horrendous time for his family and friends, and for everyone at the club by whom he was held in the very highest regard. England and Surrey may have lost a magnificently talented cricketer, but they've lost a son, brother and mate. All our thoughts should be with them at this awful time.