Cricket followers in this area knew he was capable. The series of impressive knocks for King’s College, Taunton St Andrew’s, Somerset's Second XI and England Under-19s were evidence of that.

Until yesterday, however, Tom Banton had not displayed the full range of his talents on first team duty.

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He had shown glimpses – the ramped six off Jamie Porter against Essex in a T20 last season, a valiant 30 as wickets tumbled around him on his County Championship debut against Surrey - but nothing on the scale of his excellent innings against Kent which set Somerset on their way to a crushing victory in their Royal London One-Day Cup opener.

It was a perfect occasion to announce himself. A sunny day, a packed Bank Holiday crowd containing plenty of friends and family and, crucially, the opportunity to open the batting for the first time in List A cricket.

Opening is where Banton has scored big runs for the seconds, including 150 against Middlesex on Wednesday, and it allowed him the time to build an innings.

Last season, Banton was also flying for the seconds but batted at six in the One-Day Cup team. There was a sense he was trying to force the issue and he perished to some questionable shots.

“I struggled to adapt to situations coming in at six,” he admitted afterwards. “I much prefer it opening the batting.”

On this evidence, it was easy to see why. He had to be patient early on, particularly against some probing left-arm swing from Fredrick Klaasen, while also having to try and force the issue as Azhar Ali and Peter Trego struggled to find their rhythm.

Regular boundaries kept the scoreboard moving and, after reaching a 44-ball half century, he really kicked on as his confidence grew.

Banton reverse swept well to negate the probing threat of Darren Stevens and later moved from 68 to 80 with successive sixes, the second of which was a trademark scoop reminiscent of his idol Jos Buttler.

Not that it was all sweeps and scoops – some punchy cover drives were enough to keep the purists happy while anything short was latched on to with aplomb.

Having survived a nervy play and miss on 99, a quick single took the 20-year-old to three figures and he celebrated with understandable delight, later describing it as “the best feeling I’ve ever had on a cricket field.”

Despite Steve Davies’ lack of one-day form in Somerset colours thus far, he remains a wicketkeeper-batsman with excellent 50-over pedigree and eight England ODI caps. To replace him with Banton from the outset was a show of faith in the youngster and one he repaid quite handsomely.

READ MORE: As it happened - Somerset crush Kent in One-Day Cup opener

Of course, one swallow does not make a summer. There is plenty more for Banton to do to establish himself and, batting the way he does, there will no doubt be some frustrating dismissals along the way.

“There will be times when I get out and people think ‘why did he do that?’” Banton said yesterday.

“But I’m not going to change the way I play.”

If he keeps producing knocks like yesterday's, that is music to the ears of all Somerset supporters.