🔗 Share this article

England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to hold the final practice run ahead of their third game against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

The Batter's New Role: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

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 certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If the team intend to keep him in this new position he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher 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 New Zealand have featured one of each. In the opener, he faced nine balls and scored a low score before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Return and Growth

This tour has seen Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. Seems a lot has happened in that period. I've discovered a lot about myself. The period after I was left out from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been given something new to work out. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's skill to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it provides the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can go out and do it.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

Following the first two games of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with expansive playing area, England finish the series on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the sport. With uncertain weather 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 for this match will be the same as the side that began both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others come in. Three of those players landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup implies he will arrive two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the longer format in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. As a result Archer will miss the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.