🔗 Share this article

England's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the last practice run ahead of their third game against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what role these bilateral series serve, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by players who have long since scaled the peak of their sport, in his situation it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, batting at five or six. “I didn't have 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 the summer, 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 chance to get used to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the first, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Return and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he moved away of the team, had a short comeback in recently and then spent a long period 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. It feels like a lot has occurred in that period. I've discovered a lot about myself. The few years after I was left out from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Support from Team Management

Currently, he has been given something new to work out. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to grasp it. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so minor 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

Following the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, England complete it on the next day at the Auckland arena, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at a short distance is among the most compact in the world. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their lineup two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the one that began the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

Next, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Most newcomers landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the timing of Archer’s Test match buildup implies he will follow two days later, flying with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in the away series but are not in the limited-overs team. Consequently he will be absent for the first match at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.