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Cricket Players‘Option A or Option B’: KKR bowler responds after Michael Vaughan urges Tom Banton to skip IPL
IPL 2020: Banton is one of the most exciting stars in the shortest format and has made his name with his exploits in England (Somerset) and now in Australia in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL).
Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowler Harry Gurney has responded to former England captain Michael Vaughan after the latter urged hot shot young batsman Tom Banton to skip this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL). Banton is one of the most exciting stars in the shortest format and has made his name with his exploits in England (Somerset) and now in Australia in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL). He was snapped up by KKR for the upcoming season for his base price of Rs 1 crore in the IPL 2020 auction.
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Vaughan had earlier asked the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to withdraw Banton from the upcoming IPL season so that he could play in the County Championship and press claims for England’s Test team. Gurney, who has played eight matches for KKR so far, gave his opinion into the debate and also put forward two options for the youngster.
Gurney’s Twitter post read: “Option A: Rub shoulders and train with Morgan, Narine, Russell and Cummins on a daily basis. And potentially play in front of 70,000. Option B: Nick off to a medium pacer on a green one in 8 degrees in front of a few hundred pensioners.”
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“If I were in charge I would be on the phone this week to Tom Banton telling him to give up his IPL deal and play the first few weeks of the county season for Somerset because there is a slot available at No 6 in the Test side,” Vaughan wrote in a column for Telegraph Sport.
“I have seen enough of Banton to know he is a superstar in the making. I’m not sure a stint in the IPL right now, when he might not get a lot of game time, is what he needs at this stage of his career.
“The IPL can wait. He has plenty of time to go to India. He needs to play four-day cricket and score some early hundreds,” Vaughan further wrote.
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Vaughan seems to be convinced that the young man has enough talent and pedigree to warrant a Test spot and bolster England’s batting order.
“Then England would have a top order of Rory Burns, Sibley or Crawley, Pope, Root, Stokes, Banton and a keeper at seven, probably Ben Foakes. All of a sudden that looks a pretty decent line up,” he went on to write.
