England Postpone Squad Announcement for Latest T20 Fixture as Weather Force Indoor Training

The English side's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to hold the last training session before their third game against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what role these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by athletes who have already reached the pinnacle of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an starting player, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in June, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If England intend to keep him in this altered role he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the opener, he faced nine balls and scored a low score before holing out to long-on; in the second, he played 12 deliveries, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Return and Development

The current series has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he moved away of the team, had a short comeback in recently and then passed a long period in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as England captain. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that period. I’ve learned a lot about me. The period after I got dropped from England was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given something new 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. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it provides the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can go out and perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, the visitors finish the series on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of announcing their team two days in advance while they determine if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others come in. Most newcomers arrived in the city on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will arrive two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also building towards the longer format in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently Archer will miss the first match at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.