Banton eyes the opener's spot at the top of the order in England's limited-overs teams.
England’s latest batting sensation Tom Banton has yet again proved his credentials with a blistering innings of 71 off 42 balls in the rained out first T20I of the three-match T20I series against Pakistan at Old Trafford on Friday (August 28).
In the absence of injured Jason Roy and rested Jos Buttler, Banton was given his preferred opening position in the first T20I and the young batsman also grabbed the opportunity with both hands and hit a maiden half-century in the format to help England score 131-6 in 16.1 overs before rain stopped the play at Old Trafford. Tom hit 4 fours and 5 sixes in an entertaining knock on Friday.
Following his impressive knock, Banton admitted that it is difficult to break it into the top of the order in England's limited-overs teams, but he will continue to make it difficult for the national selectors to leave him out by making the most of the opportunities given to him at the side.
Banton said after the game: “I find the middle quite tricky obviously as I've not done it really at all. So I'd like to open if possible. I guess the white-ball team at the moment, when it's at full strength, is so good I'm not going to break into it at the moment. I'm just going to try and keep scoring as many runs and putting the other guys under pressure and we'll see how it goes from there.”
He was first given the opportunity to bat at the top of the order against New Zealand and the right-hander said: “I was probably just short of a bit of confidence. They were my first games for England, and I was very nervous. This knock tonight has given me a bit more confidence that I can do it at this level. New Zealand was seven or eight months ago now, and I feel like I've grown as a cricketer.”
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The opener further added, “I've worked on a few things over the winter, technique-wise, just on my stance, etc. For me, I like to keep it quite simple. There will be days when you don't do well. It's one innings, I could go duck, duck in the next two. But for me, it's just confidence and this has given me that, so hopefully I can keep putting scores on the board.”
With a T20 World Cup coming up next year and Banton wants to continue to press his case strong for the tournament in the coming opportunities.
Banton signed off by saying, “I don't want to look too far ahead because there's a lot of cricket to be played before then. But I'm just going to keep trying to score as many runs as possible and make it difficult for the selectors not to pick me.”
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)