England Delay Team Announcement for Upcoming Twenty20 Fixture as Conditions Compel Inside Practice
England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month led them on midweek to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to hold the last practice run ahead of their next match against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what role these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.
Tom Banton's New Role: Starting Batsman to Middle Order
The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by players who have already reached the pinnacle of their game, in his situation it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a totally new position, coming in at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”
Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at fourth place. If the team plan to retain him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.”
Mixed Results in the Tour
The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it looks great and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the winter in New Zealand have featured both outcomes. In the first, he lasted nine balls and scored a low score before holing out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.
Reflections on Comeback and Development
The current series has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, 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 skipper. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about me. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was finding my way.”
Backing from Coaching Staff
Currently, he has been assigned 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. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it provides the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can step up and perform.’”
Shift in Location and Squad Decisions
Following the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors complete it on the next day at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the most compact in the sport. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of announcing their team ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the one that began both previous games.
Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches
Next, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others join the squad. Three of those players arrived in the city on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will follow later, flying with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in Australia but are not in the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.