SOMERSET batsman Tom Banton wants to play for England "as soon as possible", having become one of the most talked-about players in the English domestic game this summer.

Banton will look to impress once again this week, as Nottinghamshire visit Taunton, having hit two half-centuries in Somerset's County Championship win over Hampshire.

The 20-year-old has made a excellent transition into red-ball cricket, having scored two hundreds in the county's successful Royal London One-Day Cup campaign, adding another 69 in the final at Lord's.

His scores of 79 and 70 against Hampshire earlier this week took his Championship average to 42 (from four appearances), the best of any Somerset batsman this season.

Clearly in confident mood, Banton is not daunted by talk of an England call-up – nor of comparisons to England mainstay Jos Buttler, who also came through the ranks at Somerset earlier in his career.

Banton said: "I want to play for England as soon as possible.

"That is the dream, but I also want to play in the Indian Premier League because I love the thought of batting in front of huge crowds on good wickets

"It’s a real compliment to be compared to someone a brilliant as Jos Buttler, but I don’t think too much about it because I know that on bad days in professional cricket I am going to attract some less favourable comments.

"I aim to stay level-headed either way.

"If I take too much notice of the praise I can get ahead of myself, so I try to stay in the moment.

"I haven’t modelled myself on Jos, but of course I watch him and think, ‘Wow! What a player’.

"I do try to bat like him in white-ball cricket.

"From what I have heard, he played a lot of hockey as a youngster and that is a sport I played from the age of four through to 17."

Banton is fortunate to have spent hours working in the nets with Marcus Trescothick, who knows what it takes to play at the highest level.

Trescothick said: "Knowing Tom as I do, he will love being mentioned in the same breath as Jos and thrive on it.

"It will only increase his confidence.

"There is so much more to come from him, and it is great to see players like Tom and George Bartlett starting to fulfil their potential."

Quotes courtesy of ECB Reporters Network