England batsman Tom Banton says his knock in Friday’s washed out T20 against Pakistan shows he belongs at international level - but he is under no illusions about the challenge he faces to make the XI for next year’s T20 World Cup.
Banton produced the best innings of his brief international career to date, scoring 71 off 42 balls, as England reached 123 for six before rained forced the match to be abandoned after only 16.1 overs.
With Jason Roy out injured and Jos Buttler involved with the Test squad, the 21-year-old was handed a chance to impress at the top of the order and did not waste it, producing the array of shots that have marked him out as one of the country’s most exciting white-ball talents and already brought success in franchise cricket around the world.
Both Roy and Buttler could return for September's series against Australia and with so much talent in Eoin Morgan’s side, Banton knows he will have to pounce on any opportunities that come his way between now and the rearranged World T20 next autumn.
“The white ball team at the moment at full strength is so good,” Banton said. “And probably I'm not going to break into it at the moment so I've just got to try and keep scoring as many runs as I can and try to put the other guys under pressure and see where it goes from there.
“I don't want to look too far ahead because there's a lot of cricket to be played before [the T20 World Cup], but I just want to keep trying to score as many runs as possible and make it difficult for the selectors not to pick me.”
The Somerset batsman made a solid but unspectacular start to his T20i career on the tour of New Zealand last winter, making scores of 18, 31 and 7.
However, he hit his first international half-century in the third ODI against Ireland earlier this month and Friday’s knock at Old Trafford – which featured five sixes – was further proof of him finding his feet on the biggest stage.
“[In New Zealand] I was probably just short of a bit of confidence,” he added. “Obviously, my first few games for England I was very nervous but something like this knock tonight has given me a bit more confidence that I can do it at this level, which is nice.
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“New Zealand was seven or eight months ago now and I feel like I've grown as a cricketer, just a bit more confident.
“It's one innings, I guess, I could go duck, duck in the next two. I'm not trying to think too far ahead, we've got another game on Sunday and I'd like to do well again there.”