🔗 Share this article

England's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the last practice run before their third game against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by athletes who have long since scaled the peak of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After building his name as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in June, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If the team plan to keep him in this new position he needs every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

The player noted that “sometimes where it works well and it looks great 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 faced a few deliveries and scored a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Thoughts on Return and Development

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The period after I was left out from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it provides the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can go out and perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

After playing the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, England complete it on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their recent habit of announcing their lineup two days in advance while they determine if their preferred team here will be the identical as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players landed in the city on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive two days later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also building towards the Tests in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently he will be absent for the first match at the venue, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.