Tom Banton


Thomas Banton is an English cricketer. He made his international debut for the England cricket team in November 2019.

Domestic and franchise career

The son of South African-born English cricketer Colin Banton, he was a member of the academy at Warwickshire County Cricket Club, undertaking his secondary education at Bromsgrove School. Transferring to King's College, Taunton to study for his BTEC, Banton impressed his house master Phil Lewis. Under Lewis's guidance, Banton chose to focus on cricket over multi-sports, where he was talented in hockey playing centre forward for England under17 team. Whilst playing cricket for Kings College against Somerset Academy in a Southwest Youth League match, he was tried by academy director Steve Snell in a second XI game against Middlesex, and signed for the Somerset Academy the following week.
He made his Twenty20 cricket debut for Somerset in the 2017 NatWest t20 Blast on 16 July 2017. He made his first-class debut for Somerset in the 2018 County Championship on 18 September 2018. Banton was signed by Brisbane Heat in the Australian Big Bash League for the 2019/20 season. In December 2019, he was drafted by Pakistan Super League franchise team Peshawar Zalmi as their Diamond Category pick at the 2020 PSL draft. Later the same month, in the 2020 IPL auction, he was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the 2020 Indian Premier League.

International career

In December 2017, he was named in England's squad for the 2018 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. In September 2019, he was named in England's Twenty20 International squad for their series against New Zealand. He made his T20I debut for England, against New Zealand, on 5 November 2019. The following month, Banton was named in England's One Day International squad for their series against South Africa. He made his ODI debut on 4 February 2020, for England against South Africa.
On 29 May 2020, Banton was named in a 55-man group of players to begin training ahead of international fixtures starting in England following the COVID-19 pandemic. On 9 July 2020, Banton was included in England's 24-man squad to start training behind closed doors for the ODI series against Ireland. On 27 July 2020, Banton was named in England's squad for the ODI series.