Tom Banton is a dynamic, new-age, young English wicket-keeper batsman who burst onto the scene in 2017 for Somerset. His big hitting, explosive batting and quick glovework behind the stumps have seen him being touted as a successor for Jos Buttler. A product of the Warwickshire's system, Banton also played for the Under-19s and his potential was obvious to those who saw him and he was handed a contract at Somerset for the 2017/18 season.
 
The next season he debuted in other formats and started to explode in white-ball cricket especially the shortest format. He showed his maturity and was one of the standout performers in the 2019 T20 Blast campaign. This topped with his exploits in BBL and other Leagues saw him get a national call-up against New Zealand in the T20I series. This was followed by ODI debut against South Africa. Seeing his potential, Kolkata bought him for INR 1 crore for the 13th season of the Indian T20 League. With age on his side, Banton has all the tools to replace Bairstow and Buttler in the future and become a star.

Tom Banton

Top-order batsman Tom Banton is considering skipping the Indian Premier League this year and focus on domestic red-ball cricket to enhance his chances of making it to England&#39;s Test side.The 22-year-old, who played just two matches for Kolkata Knight Riders in the two-month-long IPL last year, said he wants to play cricket and not warm the bench.&quot;Growing up as a kid the IPL was a tournament that I absolutely loved watching. But I feel like I&#39;m at a stage now where I need to be playing cricket instead of sitting on the bench,&quot; he was quoted as saying by &#39;Sky Sports&#39;.&quot;The last year has taught me quite a bit, obviously all these tournaments are great but a lot of them I&#39;ve been sat on the sidelines and not really doing a huge amount. I miss batting and playing cricket if I&#39;m being honest,&quot; he added.Banton, who scored just 18 runs in his two innings for KKR, was one of the six players to be released by the franchise ahead of the auction for the 2021 edition.&quot;I feel at this point in my career it&#39;s probably best if I play a few red-ball games for Somerset and get back into that because I do miss playing red-ball cricket and my ambition is still to play Test cricket,&quot; he said.&quot;We&#39;ll have to wait and see. I still haven&#39;t decided yet, but I&#39;m just going to speak to a few people and try to decide from there.&quot;

The dynamic batsman is considering skipping the Indian Premier League this year to focus on domestic red-ball cricket

Thomas Banton

I need to be playing cricket instead of sitting on bench: Banton

England batsman Jason Roy has signed up with the Perth Scorchers for this summer&rsquo;s Big Bash League to strengthen their batting line-up.Fellow countryman Liam Livingstone would also return to the club. However, their arrival dates are yet to be confirmed as England will tour South Africa for a limited-overs series next month.&nbsp;England have not announced their squad for the South Africa tour yet.&nbsp;The Scorchers have also included pacers Joel Paris and Cameron Gannon in their 18-man roster, according to Cricket.com.au.Quite a few England players namely Dawid Malan, Tom Banton and Tom Curran have already confirmed BBL deals.&nbsp;Perth Scorchers BBL|10 squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Fawad Ahmad, Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Cameron Gannon, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Matt Kelly, Liam Livingstone, Joel Paris, Kurtis Patterson, Jhye Richardson, Jason Roy, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Sam Whiteman.

English players’ arrival dates are yet to be confirmed as England will travel to South Africa for a limited-overs series in November

Jason Jonathan Roy

Thomas Kevin Curran

Jonathan Marc Bairstow

Big Bash League, 2020/21

Perth Scorchers

Jason Roy signs up with Perth Scorchers for BBL

Graham Thorpe wants fledgling England batsman Tom Banton to develop in his own away after former captain Michael Vaughan compared the rising Somerset star to Kevin Pietersen.Banton demonstrated plenty of power-hitting as well as some audacious scoops during a thrilling 71 off 42 balls in the rain-marred first Twenty20 international against Pakistan at Old Trafford on Friday.Vaughan has long been a fan of the 21-year-old Banton, saying he is &quot;a bit like Kevin Pietersen in the way he hits the ball and sets up&quot;.But assistant England coach Thorpe urged caution following Banton&#39;s maiden international T20 fifty.&nbsp;&quot;It&#39;s very early,&quot; said former England batsman Thorpe, whose 100-Test career ended when he made way for Pietersen shortly before Vaughan&#39;s men defeated Australia to win the 2005 Ashes.&quot;Let him (Banton) be comfortable in the environment he&#39;s in and let him develop at his own pace as well.&quot;He is certainly talented, and you can tell he&#39;s very hungry...It&#39;s always pleasing when you see someone perform on the big stage as a young lad.&quot;Banton, reprieved on five when Iftikhar Ahmed dropped a routine slip catch, struggled before finding his form in a rain-marred match that finished as a no result.&quot;It wasn&#39;t a flyer by any means, but the way he was very clinical with his strokeplay after that was impressive,&quot; said Thorpe.Banton got a chance to open after Jason Roy was ruled out with a side injury.And with England fielding separate red and white-ball squads because of the coronavirus, a number of players, including Twenty20 opener Jos Buttler, were not considered for the three-match series.Competition England white-ball captain Eoin Morgan believes the 50-over world champions must field their strongest side as often as possible if they are to win next year&#39;s T20 World Cup in India.&quot;Obviously they&#39;re unusual circumstances this summer,&quot; said Thorpe. &quot;It is important for the T20 side as well as the one-day side to try to get the strongest team out, so players do get used to the positions we want them to bat in.&nbsp;&quot;You also want, if people get injured, people who can come in to those positions. If you can step up and put in performances like that, you&#39;ll certainly create competition for the squad.&quot;It was a view echoed by Banton himself, who said he would try to make it difficult for the selectors to drop him.The way Banton hoisted leg-spinner Shadab Khan for several huge sixes, in addition to ramping paceman Haris Rauf over the boundary, also bodes well for a T20 World Cup set to be played on spin-friendly Indian pitches.&nbsp;&quot;You saw some of the skill shots -- the ramp shots he played off Rauf &ndash;- but the way he was incredibly clear on his plan against spin as well,&quot; said Thorpe.

Banton demonstrated plenty of power-hitting as well as some audacious scoops during a thrilling 71 off 42 balls in the rain-marred first Twenty20 international against Pakistan

Kevin Peter Pietersen

Graham Paul Thorpe

Pakistan tour of England, 2020

England

Thorpe urges caution after Banton fireworks lead to Pietersen comparison

Talented English batsman Tom Banton, who impressed with his performances for Somerset in last year&#39;s T20 Blast, is looking forward to learn from star West Indies allrounder Andre Russell during his Kolkata Knight Riders stint in the upcoming IPL.Banton, who scored 549 runs from 13 matches at a strike rate of 161.47 in 2019 Vitality Blast, was bought by the Kolkata franchise for Rs 1 crore for the IPL which begins in the UAE on September 19.&quot;I&#39;m particularly excited to play alongside Andre Russell and Pat Cummins. I watched Andre last year, and he played really well. Learning from someone like him will be really cool,&quot; Banton, who made his England debut in New Zealand and played in three T20Is, was quoted as saying in kkr.in.Russell was the Most Valuable Player of IPL 2019, scoring 510 runs from 13 innings, averaging 56.66. He also picked up 11 wickets.The 21-year-old Banton said he&#39;s also excited to be with the likes of Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shubman Gill, whom he has played against in his U-19 days.&quot;There are a few guys of my age (Shivam) Mavi, (Kamlesh) Nagarkoti and Shubman (Gill) - whom I have played against when I was younger. It would be great to see them again.&quot;Banton played in the same U-19 World Cup in which Shubman was adjudged Man of the Tournament.&quot;I remember the Indians were a lot better than all of us in the (2018 Under-19) World Cup. I look up to those guys even now, and I am still good friends with some of them. Playing alongside Shubman at KKR will be pretty nice and I am really looking forward to it,&quot; he said.&quot;Honestly, just being part of the IPL is something I have been dreaming of since a very young age. I have been watching IPL every year. I have literally been glued to the IPL from the very first games in the years when it started.&quot;The hockey player-turned cricketer loves to play innovative shots like reverse-slaps and scoops. He showed one such shot against Sam Curran in the Vitality Blast when he switched his grip and reverse-scooped for a six.&quot;I guess it probably comes from playing hockey. I was a drag flicker and used to play reverse there quite often. My dad used to play hockey and I kind of followed his footsteps,&quot; Banton, who played hockey from the age of three, said.&quot;I was 16-year-old, when things were getting more serious and I had to pick one sport and that&#39;s when I chose cricket.&quot;The tall youngster has drawn regular comparisons with former England captain Kevin Pietersen.&quot;He (Pietersen) is one of the greatest players to have played from England. I have watched him while growing up and he was definitely an idol of mine. But honestly, I don&#39;t like to think so much, otherwise you get too far ahead of yourself,&quot; he said.

The 21-year-old Banton said he's also excited to be with the likes of Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shubman Gill, whom he has played against in his U-19 days

Andre Dwayne Russell

Indian Premier League, 2020

Kolkata Knight Riders

Looking forward to learn from Russell: Banton

There are always a couple of players who emerge as millionaires from the Indian Premier League auction and this time around it was the likes of Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, Chris Morris, Sheldon Cottrell, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Shimron Hetmyer who fetched over USD 1 million in the auction held in Kolkata on Thursday (December 19) for the 2020 edition. However, the auction is also about stealing effective players for a bargain, and this event was no different.There were quite a few teams who managed to acquire the services of quality players without spending big bucks. And generally these are the kinds of players who play a huge role in the team&#39;s success. Here, we look at six such foreign players who were bought at their base price but could offer a lot more than what those numbers in their cheques suggest:Chris Green - Kolkata Knight Riders (INR 20 lakh)The 26-year-old all-rounder recently signed a six-year deal with Sydney Thunder, longest in the history of the Big Bash League, and that tells you how dependable he can be. The off-spinner plays franchise cricket all around the world and can chip in all three facets of the game. He has got a good head on his shoulders and is a thinking bowler. He has an economy of just 6.68 in 77 T20s despite bowling majority of his overs in the powerplays. Green has only taken 19 wickets at 34.2 in the first six overs but has a superb economy rate of just 6. In 2019, he has an economy of 5.8 and concedes a boundary every 9.5 deliveries. No other bowler (minimum 50 overs) has a better economy and higher balls per boundary then Green this year.Apart from his off-spin, Green is also a handy striker of the ball down the order. If Sunil Narine was to miss out due to some reason, KKR can always bring in Green who will provide that much-required control no matter how much assistance the surface is offering. Unlike Narine, Green isn&#39;t a slogger and can also be trusted with the bat at any situation. With only four overseas players allowed, Kolkata will most probably start with Andre Russell, Eoin Morgan, Pat Cummins and Narine but as the tournament goes on, the likes of Green and Tom Banton too can come into play. &nbsp;Tom Banton - Kolkata Knight Riders (INR 1 crore)Billed as England&#39;s next Kevin Pietersen, Banton is a ferocious 21-year-old opener from England. The right-hander shot to stardom in the last edition of the Vitality T20 Blast. Playing for Somerset, Banton smashed 549 runs in 13 encounters at a strike rate of 161.47. Prior to that, he had slammed scores of 112 in the quarter-final, 59 in the semi-final and 69 in the final of the Royal London One-Day Cup, helping his team win the title. Banton is someone who can hit all around the park and disrupt any bowling attack. He made his T20I debut last month in New Zealand and managed to impress everyone with a couple of eye-catching cameos.On Friday (December 20), Banton blasted 64 off 36 deliveries, studded with six fours and four maximums, against Melbourne Stars. In Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi and Narine, Kolkata already have three openers and even if the latter fails, the franchise will most probably go with the former two up the order. In Kolkata where the surface offers good bounce and pace, Kolkata can throw in Banton at the top just to create chaos. And if the formula works, Banton can win them games on his own.Joshua Philippe - Royal Challengers Bangalore (INR 20 lakh)The Sydney Sixers wicketkeeper-batsman couldn&#39;t have timed his unbeaten 81-run knock against Perth Scorchers better as the 22-year-old got picked by the Bangalore-based franchise for his base price. The Chinnaswamy surface will suit his game style as the right-hander likes to get going from the word go. In-form Marnus Labuschagne might be touted as Steve Smith 2.0 but Philippe too has plenty of similarities with Australia&#39;s premier batsman. That baby face, that blonde hair, Philippe even gets fidgety like Smith. In 13 T20s that he has played in 2019, Philippe has scored runs at an average of 45.88 and a strike rate of 159.6.However, he will be competing with his country-mate Aaron Finch for the opening spot and he can only get some game time if the latter doesn&#39;t play. He is good against both pace and spin and is a quick starter as well, operating at a strike rate of over 150 in his first 10 balls. Imagine if the ploy of opening Philippe with Devdutt Padikkal works, Bangalore can stop worrying about openers for the next few years. &nbsp;Chris Lynn - Mumbai Indians (INR 2 crore)Mumbai might have hit a jackpot in Chris Lynn after purchasing him for just 2 crore. The swashbuckling opener from Australia will for sure enjoy batting at the Wankhede as it&#39;s probably one of the best Indian venues for batsmen. The right-hander has operated at a strike rate of over 134 this year and it will only get better next year if he plays at Wankhede. He struggles against spinners but the surface in Mumbai will nullify that as well.The 29-year-old will bat around Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav and that will give him the license to play his natural game, something that he couldn&#39;t do for Kolkata. There&#39;s a high possibility that Mumbai might play Lynn over Quinton de Kock and ask Ishan Kishan to do the wicketkeeping. And more importantly, like Lynn already mentioned, he &quot;won&#39;t have to play against Jasprit Bumrah&quot;, making him a &#39;guaranteed&#39; success. &nbsp; &nbsp;Fabian Allen - Sunrisers Hyderabad (INR 50 lakh)The 24-year-old all-rounder from Jamaica oozes charisma! He had a fantastic Caribbean Premier League in which he scored 218 runs at a strike rate of 177.23. He didn&#39;t bowl much and could only manage two wickets in the season. He has a career strike rate of over 165 and can provide SRH that much-required firepower at the end. SRH have a solid top-order comprising of David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey but they need someone down the order who can play those big shots and also chip in with a couple of overs left. He is nowhere near the class of Shakib Al Hasan but Allen has the ability to come up with match-defining performances. Not to forget, he is a livewire on the field!James Neesham - Kings XI Punjab (INR 50 lakh)Kings XI Punjab can now fire their Social Media Manager now that they have Neesham. Punjab can give all their social media credentials to Neesham, but jokes apart, the New Zealand all-rounder&#39;s cricket credentials aren&#39;t bad either. The 29-year-old doesn&#39;t have great numbers in this format in 2019 but when it comes to ODIs, Neesham had quite a good year. He scored runs at an average of over 43 and also managed 25 wickets at 20.8. Not to forget, he almost won New Zealand the World Cup! With so many international stars in the squad, it&#39;s highly unlikely that Neesham will start for Punjab but when the opportunity comes, Neesham has the temperament for big games.Honourable mentions -&nbsp;Josh Hazlewood (CSK | 2 crore), Dale Steyn (RCB | 2 crore) and Jason Roy (DC | 1.5 crore).* All stats are till December 20.

We look at six foreign players who were bought at their base price but could offer a lot more than what those numbers in their cheques suggest:

Christopher James Green

Christopher Austin Lynn

James Douglas Sheahan Neesham

Fabian Anthony Allen

Base price, high value - IPL auction overseas bargain buys

It&rsquo;s that time of the year. The time when cricket fans are bemused as to why an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise has paid a fortune for a cricketer they&rsquo;ve hardly heard of. While some players in the past have gone on to make it big, numerous others have failed to live up to their elaborate price tags.The upcoming season&rsquo;s IPL auction, scheduled for 19 December 2019, is once again expected to bring forward a few such cricketers. And here, we have a look at five players who might rake in the big bucks at the auction.Yashasvi JaiswalYashasvi Jaiswal is the latest in a long line of supreme batting talents that has emerged from Mumbai. Just 17, Jaiswal has already been tipped for big things. He caught the eye of cricket observers during the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy during which he plundered 564 runs in just six innings at an average of 112.8, including a majestic 203 off 154 balls against Jharkhand - thus becoming the youngest man to score a List A double hundred.In the Youth ODI series against Afghanistan last month, he was the top run-scorer despite having played just two out of the five matches. In fact, in a series where batting wasn&rsquo;t easy, he wasn&rsquo;t dismissed in either innings while making 146 runs which included a century. His strike rate during the series was 132.72 which is another reason why teams are likely to bid big for him in the upcoming auction.<img src="https://images.cricket.com/articles/a93043daa45e8384f0708eb67d44bb24781ca6c4.jpg" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Rohan KadamIn a way, Rohan Kadam was unlucky to have not played in the IPL last season. After all, he was the top run-scorer in the 2018-19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) which was held at the start of the year. But the auction preceded India&rsquo;s inter-state T20 tournament then and he was unsurprisingly unpicked as a result.This time around, though, there is a good chance that the left-hander will be bought for a good amount after being an important component of Karnataka&rsquo;s back-to-back triumphs in SMAT. While Kadam is predominantly an opener and had great success in that role during SMAT 2018-19, he showed that he is no mug down the order either, scoring a crucial 35 in this year&rsquo;s final after coming into bat at number five.R Sai KishoreAnother player who displayed excellent form in white-ball domestic cricket recently is R Sai Kishore. The left-arm orthodox spinner was the highest wicket-taker (20) during SMAT 2019-20, playing a crucial role in his team Tamil Nadu&rsquo;s run to the final. In fact, the decision to give him just one over in the final came as a surprise.While he might have taken the most wickets during the tournament, what was more impressive was his economy rate. He bowled as many as 44.5 overs and conceded just 4.63 runs per over. He bowled five maidens which is a terrific number when you consider that no other bowler registered more than two maidens during the tournament.<iframe src="https://e.infogram.com/fa02a646-f77e-4d70-93c7-008f2e7c9c68?src=embed" title="SMAT bowling" width="550" height="700" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none;" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>Tom BantonAmong overseas players, England&rsquo;s Tom Banton is expected to be sold at a good price at this year&rsquo;s auction. The 21-year-old, who made his T20I debut against New Zealand in November, has an exceptional strike rate (155.15) in T20 cricket. In the 2019 Natwest t20 Blast, he scored 549 runs at an average of 42.23 and a strike rate of 161.47 which is said to have impressed a couple of IPL franchises.In the past, there have been questions raised about how England batsmen&rsquo;s inability to play spin well and that has seen some top English talent not being sold for high prices with some even going unsold. For Banton, this case holds true as he averages just 20.71 against spin while it&rsquo;s 45.64 against pace in T20s. But he does have a strike rate of 154.26 against spin and hence, multiple teams are likely to bid for the young England star.<img src="https://images.cricket.com/articles/56465f8db22761afa10a8321314d8986fa6db108.jpg" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">Hayden Walsh Jr.It&rsquo;s been quite a year for Hayden Walsh Jr. He started the year by making his international debut for the United States of America before a surreal Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign saw him being drafted into the West Indies team. He really impressed in the second T20I against India, taking two wickets, including the important one of Shivam Dube which went a long way in restricting the Men in Blue&rsquo;s scoring rate.It&rsquo;s his CPL 2019 performances, though, that would have caught the eye of IPL franchises. He took 22 wickets in the tournament, striking every 9.1 deliveries. Unsurprisingly, he was named the Player of the Tournament as his team Barbados Tridents won the title. He is also a brilliant fielder which is an added bonus in T20 cricket.<iframe src="https://e.infogram.com/3035ce3e-e682-4c7a-8544-76dc642ae201?src=embed" title="CPL Bowling" width="550" height="700" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none;" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Tom Banton

Debut

Player Bio

Tom Banton in News

I need to be playing cricket instead of sitting on bench: Banton

Jason Roy signs up with Perth Scorchers for BBL

Thorpe urges caution after Banton fireworks lead to Pietersen comparison

Looking forward to learn from Russell: Banton

Base price, high value - IPL auction overseas bargain buys

Five players to watch out for at the 2020 IPL Auction