Tom Banton leads new-look England T20 squad for New Zealand

The Somerset batsman is joined by Lancashire Saqid Mahmood for the five-match series in November as a host of senior players are rested

Tom Banton’s breakthrough season in the T20 Blast has been rewarded with a place on England’s white-ball tour of New Zealand.

The Somerset batsman, who hit 549 runs in the Blast in 2019 at a strike rate of 161.47, has been picked for the five T20 internationals in November.

Banton, 20, has been compared to both Kevin Pietersen and Jos Buttler over the course of the campaign, during which he also scored a half-century during his county’s Royal London One-Day Cup final victory over Hampshire at Lord’s.

England officials have been paying close attention to his progress over recent months, and had previously met with Banton about his plans for the winter.

The explosive young talent, who recently signed a new three-year contract at Taunton, has been interesting Big Bash and IPL franchises.

He joins a new-look England squad for the trip to New Zealand, with many of the side’s biggest names given a rest after their exploits at the World Cup.

Joe Root, Jason Roy, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and Buttler all sit out the trip, as the likes of Saqib Mahmood and Matt Parkinson are given their chances to impress.

There is no place for Moeen Ali, despite the allrounder being recently handed a white-ball central contract and confirming on Saturday that he was available for the tour.

Pat Brown, the young Worcestershire seamer, is also included in the 15-man party for the T20 tour, as well as Sam Billings after a season which was interrupted by injury.

Lewis Gregory of Somerset and Hampshire’s James Vince are also picked.

England T20 Squad: Eoin Morgan, Jonny Bairstow,Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Pat Brown, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Lewis Gregory, Chris Jordan, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Matthew Parkinson, Adil Rashid, James Vince

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