🔗 Share this article

England's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to hold the final practice run ahead of their next match against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by athletes who have long since scaled the peak of their sport, in his situation it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, primarily as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar position, coming in at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If the team plan to retain him in this altered role he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the tour in the host nation have seen one of each. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and scored a low score before getting out to long-on; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Return and Development

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he made his international debut in late 2019. After that, he moved away of the team, made a brief return in recently and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped from England was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was finding my way.”

Support from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been assigned something new to work out. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to grasp it. “Baz came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can go out and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

After playing the first two games of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with expansive playing area, England complete it on Thursday at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the shortest in the sport. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their lineup ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the same as the one that began both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

Next, they move to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: three players are omitted, while four others come in. Most newcomers landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations means he will arrive later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will miss the first match at the venue, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.