England’s latest batting sensation Tom Banton has signed a new two-year deal with the Big Bash League (BBL) franchise Brisbane Heat on Wednesday (February 5).

After Banton’s impressive stint at his maiden BBL 2020, the Brisbane Heat has jumped to secure the services of this exciting English talent for the next two editions of Australia’s T20 League.

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Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, the franchise has announced the re-signing of Banton while confirming that he will be available for the entirety of the BBL 10.

The right-handed opening batsman, who is currently in South Africa and made his ODI debut for England on Tuesday in Cape Town, scored 223 runs across seven matches, hitting three half-centuries at the Brisbane Heat high strike rate of 176.98 in the ongoing BBL 09.

He also scored the second-fastest half-century of all time in the BBL, which came against the Sydney Thunder off just 16 balls, hitting five consecutive sixes in an over.

Brisbane Heat coach Darren Lehmann said of the Banton signing: “I think anyone who saw Tom during his seven games for the Heat in the BBL would agree that he is a special player and someone we think can play an important role for us over the next two years.”

He further added, “We wanted to move quickly and are very pleased that Tom has agreed to terms. He’s a good young lad and we think his cricket will only get better from here. He’s got his first IPL coming up and he’s in the English set-up, so we know how highly he is thought of around the world.”

Meanwhile, Lehmann was also hopeful of getting AB de Villiers, who replaced Banton for the latter stages of the BBL 09, for the next season and even they have been contacting the South African legend since the end of Brisbane’s BBL campaign as a seventh-placed side.

He added, “AB was very positive about the prospects of returning to the Heat, so that is encouraging. We will keep working on things to see what the options are ahead of BBL|10.”

On the Heat’s poor season, the coach said: “We certainly didn’t have the type of finish to our season that we would have hoped for, and we know our fans were as disappointed as we were.”

Lehmann signed off by saying, “We’ve spent some time since then reflecting on what worked and what we could improve on, and the best ways to achieve the goals we have set ourselves.”

Noteworthy, Tom has played three T20 Internationals for England so far and shapes as a potential member for the ICC World T20 Cup 2020 in Australia later this year.

(With brisbaneheat.com.au Inputs)