🔗 Share this article

England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the last practice run ahead of their next match against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's New Role: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by players who have long since scaled the peak of their game, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, batting 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, 87% 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 seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If the team intend to retain him in this altered role he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder 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 winter in New Zealand have featured one of each. In the first, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he played a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Thoughts on Return and Development

This tour has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed a long period in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. Seems a lot has happened in that period. I’ve learned a lot about me. The period after I was left out from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was working myself out.”

Support from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it gives me 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, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with expansive playing area, England complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge 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 revealing their team ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the one that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a slightly amended team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others join the squad. Three of those players landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations means he will follow two days later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will miss the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.