Alfonso Thomas was back in Taunton last week for a fleeting visit before flying off to South Africa on the next stage of his winter Twenty20 cricketing tour.

Thomas, who led Somerset to the semi-finals of the Champions League Twenty 20 in India back in October, returned to his adopted home to catch up with his family and team-mates after playing for Adelaide Strikers in the Australian Big Bash.

Although the Strikers did not reach the final stages of the competition, Thomas enjoyed a successful time, playing in all seven matches. He opened the bowling and sent down 26 overs and claimed five wickets, the second best for the team, at an average of 35.40, and finished with an economy rate of 6.80, the third cheapest for the Adelaide side.

Reflecting on his time in the Big Bash, the Somerset vice-captain, who celebrates his 35th birthday today, said: "It was a simply fantastic tournament with a really high standard of cricket played against some world-class cricketers.

"On a personal note, it went all right for me. I had a really good economy rate and only went for 6.8, although I would have liked to have picked up some more wickets than I did.

"I always got the feeling that when I was bowling that the batsmen were just looking to prevent me taking wickets and then try to catch up somewhere else in the innings. I opened the attack and bowled at the death as well in most games.

"As far as the team was concerned, we didn't score enough runs, which meant we were always struggling."

Adelaide Strikers have a strong Somerset connection. Thomas added: "It was great to work with Jamie Cox, who was in charge of the Strikers. He is such a cool, calm guy and had a lot of good things to say about Somerset from the time when he was captain at the County Ground.

"Jamie was absolutely brilliant and I can't fault the way that I was looked after while I was out with the Strikers. I'd love to go back out there again next year, but we'll have to wait and see."

During his time with the Strikers, the Somerset bowler played against new County Ground Twenty20 signing Chris Gayle, who was representing Sydney Thunder.

"He is just a fantastic Twenty20 cricketer and probably the most dangerous batsman in that form of the game," said Thomas. "Gayle is just so destructive and the Strikers got beaten virtually by him alone. He scored a hundred against us, and it was a brutal innings as he just seemed to bully our bowlers. He is a very powerful player and his attitude is fantastic."

Regarding Somerset's second overseas Twenty20 player, South African Albie Morkel, Thomas said: "Albie is my long-lost pal who is probably one of the cleanest strikers of the ball in the game, and is another player who can go on and win a game on his own."

Now Thomas has packed his bags again and is off on the next leg of his travels to play for Titans in South Africa's domestic Twenty20 competition for the next six weeks.

"The Titans have got a really strong squad and I shall be linking up with Matthew Maynard, who is in charge of the side there," he said.

"He was very keen to sign me so I'm looking forward to working with him."

The Somerset favourite will remain in South Africa until March 20, after which he will fly back home for a short stay before going out to India to play for Pune Warriors in the Indian Premier League.