The English Team Postpone Squad Reveal for Latest Twenty20 Fixture as Weather Compel Indoor Training

England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on midweek to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the final training session ahead of their third game against the Kiwis inside. It is not always obvious what purpose these two-team contests fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this instance, 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 “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by athletes 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 suddenly finds himself a totally new 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 lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend to retain him in this altered role he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have seen one of each. In the opener, he faced nine balls and made a low score before holing out to long-on; in the second, he played a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Development

This tour has seen Banton come back to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the team, had a short comeback in recently and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about me. The period after I was left out from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it provides the support that if it doesn't work, 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 manager and I can step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with expansive playing area, England finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the most compact in the sport. With changeable conditions and an new location they have abandoned their usual practice of announcing their team ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI for this match will be the identical as the one that started the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: three players are omitted, while four others come in. Three of those players landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the scheduling 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 longer format in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will be absent for the opening game at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.