Tom Westley progressed to the first team squad from the Academy in 2006. A former England Under-19 player, he was still a student at Durham University when he recorded his maiden first-class century, scoring 132 at Derby in 2009 and three years later, recorded his highest score when taking 185 from the Glamorgan attack at Colchester.

He staked a real claim in the first team during the 2014 season where he was named the DeVines Player of the Year, alongside the Player’s Player of the Year and the Batsman on the Year. He recorded centuries in each format, including his maiden 100 in Twenty20 cricket, when he smashed 105 against Kent at Colchester. He followed it up with 109 against Sussex at Chelmsford.

His fantastic year was rewarded with a call-up to the England Performance programme trip over the winter to Sri Lanka and scored 100 for the Lions against South Africa in 2017, as Essex also won a first County Championship title in 25 years.

An England Test call-up beckoned more than a decade after his Essex debut. A half-century on debut against South Africa at the Oval encouraged optimism that, but he, unfortunately, didn’t make the squad for the Ashes trip in 2017/18.

Westley shone in all three formats during the 2019 season to help the Club clinch the Specsavers County Championship and Vitality Blast trophies. His knock of 141 against Warwickshire in the Championship was his standout performance of the season, which secured a vital draw at Edgbaston.

In January 2020, Westley was appointed Club Captain after Ryan ten Doeschate stepped down from the role. He led the team to an inaugural Bob Willis Trophy win after overcoming Somerset at Lord’s, in which he scored a half-century in a 170 run partnership with Alastair Cook.

Date of Birth:	13/03/89
Squad No:	21
Nationality:
Debut	2007
Capped	2013
Role in Team:	Batsman
Batting:	Right-Hand
Bowling:	Right-Arm Off-Spin
	@Westley21