Basil, you’ve gone batty

AS claims to fame go, 21-year-old Tom Banton can already boast a pretty quirky one.

The Somerset and England batsman has been accused of being disloyal by John Cleese.

Banton will not play in his county’s Bob Willis Trophy Final later this month because he will have started his contract with the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.

“I’ve always loved Somerset County Cricket Club for their team spirit, their decency and their loyalty to the club,” tweeted four-timesmarried Cleese (above), presumably from his home on the Caribbean island of Nevis.

“So I am appalled that Tom Banton cannot find the time to play for his county in the most important match in their history. Shame on you, Tom.”

Leaving aside the moot point about the game’s importance, Banton (circle) has featured in only two of Somerset’s five Bob Willis Trophy matches, playing three innings of 13, 18 and 2.

Those chiefly responsible for taking Somerset to the final should play in that game while the promising Banton gains invaluable experience playing alongside and against the best limited-overs operators in the world.

Coincidentally, tomorrow marks the 45th anniversary of the first-ever episode of Fawlty Towers – a timely reminder that Cleese was once funny rather than a laughing stock.

FORMER Middlesex and England cricketer, and esteemed journalist, Mike Selvey, makes a very pertinent point about the climax to the final England game of the summer when he says: “Isn’t it great that we’ve actually been lucky enough to even be in a position this summer to argue about who should have bowled the last over?”

How very true. But it was still a shocker from Eoin Morgan to give it to Adil Rashid.