England have included Tom Banton in the squad for the third and final ODI against Sri Lanka. Banton has come up as a backup for Dawid Malan who has taken a leave of absence due to personal reasons. The third ODI between the two teams is slated to take place on July 4 in Bristol.
Banton has so far featured in 6 ODIs for England and has managed to score 134 runs including a half-century. He recently scored an unbeaten ton against Kent for Somerset during the T20 Blast. He last played an ODI for England in 2020 against Ireland in Southampton.
Somerset confirmed that Banton had been called-up to join the England squad and will be missing the upcoming fixtures of the T20 Blast including the game against Gloucestershire on Thursday evening.
The home side are currently leading the three-match series 1-0 with the second clash slated to take place on Thursday (July 1, 2021).
The England bowlers rattled the Sri Lankan batting line up and bundled them out for 185 and then rode on Joe Root’s half-century to go over the line by 5 wickets in the 35th over at Chester-le-Street.
The Eoin Morgan-led team earlier thumped the Lankan lions 3-0 in the T20I series.