Batting after tea, English 500 secured (7)
I believe the answer is:
chained
'secured' is the definition.
(chaining is a kind of securing)
'batting after tea english 500' is the wordplay.
'batting' becomes 'in'.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'tea' becomes 'cha' (cha is a type of tea).
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'500' becomes 'd' ('d' can be a synonym of '500').
'in' after 'cha' is 'chain'.
'chain'+'e'+'d'='CHAINED'
(Another definition for chained that I've seen is " In fetters".)
I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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