Thomas, who was awarded a two-year contact by Surrey last summer, became the first Cranleighan to score a thousand runs in the last summer at the school in 2024.

His Surrey team-mate Dom Sibley was effusive his praise. “I was out there when he came in at the start,” he said. “The nerves when you walk in, once he got off the mark, he seemed so relaxed out there. All the senior guys out there can tell you how composed he was; obviously, his technique was so strong, so to see him go out there and play really well, to convert that into a hundred as well, and the way he went through the gears was so impressive. I’m sure that’s going to be the first of many for AT (Thomas).

“The lads in the marquee, and then in the second team, were speaking about how good he looks. The way he runs the twos as well, he’s got a mature head on his shoulders and that obviously helps. He’s opened the batting in the second team; you need to be thick-skinned doing that job. He batted brilliantly.”

Sussex coach Paul Farbrace was no less enthusiastic. “I thought he showed real high quality in that innings. And the great thing that impressed me more than anything else was how late he played the ball. He played the ball under his eyes. And if you play the ball under your eyes, you’ve got a much better chance of not following the ball, not being lured into playing the ball early. All the best players in the world play under their eyes. They play the ball late, and they play straight. For a young man making his debut, I thought that was impressive.”