BBL 2019-20: Brisbane Heat sign Tom Banton; Michael Vaughan feels its the best signing of the season

Fresh from signing one of the greatest players to have graced this beautiful game of cricket- AB de Villiers– the Brisbane Heat have now racked up another international coup by acquiring the services of the recently crowned England ‘Player of the Year’, Somerset’s Tom Banton for the upcoming Big Bash League (BBL) season. The 20-year-old will feature in the first eight games for the Heat with De Villiers taking over for the final six matches and the possible knockouts if the franchise goes thus far.

Likened to the likes of Kevin Pieterson and Brendon McCullum for his precocious hitting skills, Banton shot into limelight following an outstanding display of power-hitting and consistency. Alongside Babar Azam, Tom Banton was the cornerstone of Somerset batting in the recently concluded T20 Blast where he racked up 549 runs at a strike-rate of 161.47, including a whirlwind ton against Kent.

Vaughan impressed with Banton

Tom Banton’s exploits in the T20 Blast earned him a call-up to the English T20I squad for a 5-match series in New Zealand and now with this offer, Banton is pretty bewildered about what has transpired in the past few months.

“If you had asked me at the start of the summer would I imagine it going like this, I would have probably had a laugh and suggested you weren’t serious. I was blown away when it was announced last week that AB was coming to join the Heat so what was already going to be a huge experience just got bigger,” he said.

“I’m really looking forward to coming to Brisbane and seeing what Queensland has to offer after previously playing club cricket in Perth when I was younger. I’ve watched a fair bit of the BBL at home and it is a quality competition with so many outstanding players. I can’t wait to be honest.”

Posting his opinion about Tom Banton’s signing, former English captain Michael Vaughan reckoned that it was the best BBL signing of the season. He also termed the youngster as the ‘superstar in the making’ and seems to be already impressed with his batting in the T20 Blast.

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