Picture Credit: Twitter/@englandcricket
After winning the T20Is and the 1st ODI against Sri Lanka, England find themselves in a very strong position to seal the series on Thursday. While Eoin Morgan's side has been brilliant on the field, they have had a few injury scares. After Jos Buttler was ruled out of the English Summer, Jason Roy is also recovering from a hamstring injury. To add to the problems, Dawid Malan has also pulled out of the series due to personal reasons forcing England to call a back-up player for the final ODI which will be played in Bristol on Sunday.
England Cricket announces back-up for Malan
After Malan informed the management about his unavailability for the remainder of the series, the team management has decided to recall Tom Banton into the ODI squad. The 22-year-old has played 6 ODIs and 9 T20Is for England and has been in terrific form in the ongoing Vitality T20 Blast. He recently smashed a 47-ball century against Kent and caught everyone's attention with his breath-taking knock.
Banton finally gets his opportunity
The former KKR batsman has been quite unlucky to miss out of the England squad because of the presence of so many top-order players like Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow and Dawid Malan. However, the team management has made it quite clear with this move that Banton is the next player in the radar after he got a nod ahead of players like Alex Hales, Phil Salt and Sam Hain.
Notably, Banton played his last ODI against Ireland in 2020 where he registered his best score of 58. He would be in line to feature in England's playing XI for final ODI and would want to grab this golden opportunity with both hands which could also earn him a place in England's squad for upcoming white-ball series against Pakistan.