Walking off the field with an unbeaten half-century seconds after England had sealed their third T20I series-win in a row must have had an extra level of satisfaction for Tom Banton.
It was the first time he had passed 50 in an England shirt since his recall to the squad a year ago, and came after he was moved up the order. Ordinarily, a promotion into the top four is something a batter would be pleased with, but it was originally seen as a bad omen for his chances of starting the T20 World Cup. With Ben Duckett missing the first two T20Is with an injured thumb, it seemed Banton was the placeholder. Instead, that innings, as well as the 29 off 15 balls he made in the previous match, placed Banton firmly in possession of a place in England’s World Cup middle order, where spots are rarely up for grabs.
Both innings were better than they appear on paper. The 29 in the first T20I put the chase firmly in England’s hands after they lost two quick wickets in the powerplay. In an England lineup often vulnerable against spin on sticky surfaces, Banton successfully took on Sri Lanka’s spinners in the middle overs. He hit both Dunith Wellalage and Wanindu Hasaranga off their lengths, whacking Wellalage over extra-cover and reverse-sweeping Hasaranga. That particular strength against spin was perhaps partly behind England’s decision to try him at four in the first place. At the start of last summer, playing his second T20I in three years at Bristol, Banton showed that strength when he took down West Indies’ Gudakesh Motie to score a clinical 30* off 11 balls.
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Batting at No.4 in Sri Lanka was an opportunity for Banton to show the full range of his skillset. In 2025, following a recall to England’s white-ball squads ahead of the Champions Trophy, he batted exclusively at Nos.5 and 6 in T20Is, playing as an innings finisher. It’s a role he’s had significant success in, most notably smashing 29 off 12 balls in Christchurch last October which pushed England well past 200. Of England batters who have played at least five innings at Nos.5 and 6, none both average and strike more than Banton. It’s a role many struggle to get right, but one Banton quietly nailed.
Nevertheless, batting in the top order feels like a more natural fit. While it doesn’t quite mirror his position as an opener both in the T20 Blast for Somerset and in The Hundred, it does reflect one that’s brought him success on the franchise circuit. Batting mostly at three and four for MI Emirates in the ILT20 at the end of last year, Banton scored 327 runs over 13 innings, which put him fourth on the competition run-scoring chart.
It was in the ILT20 that Banton’s charge for an England recall gathered pace at the start of 2025. He scored two centuries in quick succession in the competition, which he finished with an average of 54.77. Just after his stint in Dubai ended, he was called up to replace Jacob Bethell in England’s Champions Trophy squad.
That call-up marked a new chapter of Banton’s career, the first time he was picked in an England squad for three years. A hugely talented teenager who broke into international cricket just before the Covid-19 pandemic, Banton took full advantage of the franchise opportunities available to him at the time. Soon the runs dried up, and questions over whether at that stage of his career, he had the range and adaptability to succeed at international level surfaced.
“I hated cricket,” Banton told Wisden.com last year. “I just had to do it because it was a job. When you talk to anyone who’s played a lot of cricket for a long period of time, there are moments in your career when you fall out of love with it for a bit and find it again.”
It didn’t help that Banton had been earmarked as a prodigy from such a young age, compared to Kevin Pietersen as a batter built in a similar mould, but having played a fraction of the cricket others had before being thrust into the spotlight. “I used to log onto Twitter and read that stuff [comparisons] and think, that’s pretty surreal,” Banton said. “You can’t complain if you’re being compared to those people, but I think if it were to happen to someone else now, I’d like to try and help them out because everyone’s been there. I’ve been there, and it was horrible.”
The beginning of 2024 was when Banton truly left that chapter of his career behind. He re-found his love for the game and runs followed on both the franchise and county circuit. He broke back into Somerset’s red-ball side, and was their leading run-scorer in the T20 Blast that year.
Since his recall to England, the results of the natural development of a batter now in the latter part of his 20s, compared to the 20-year-old who made his England debut, have been notable. The majority of his runs in the second T20I against Sri Lanka were scored through the off-side, compared to his reliance on hitting over the leg-side boundary earlier in his career. It’s that adaptability, as well as a healthy dose of form coming at the right time, which has enabled him to fight off the likes of Duckett and Jordan Cox for that coveted England middle-order spot.
Walking out to bat in England’s T20 World Cup opener next week opens up a fresh opportunity for Banton. Finally where he wants to be after a year proving his worth, he has a chance to justify those early comparisons. But, more simply, it’s an opportunity to play a central part in an England World Cup campaign with a decent chance of returning some silverware.
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