🔗 Share this article

The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in February brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to hold the last training session ahead of their third game against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what role these two-team contests fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

The Batter's Changed Position: From Opener to Middle Order

Tom Banton 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 pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar role, batting at five or six. “I didn't have 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, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If England intend to retain him in this new position he requires every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “sometimes where it comes off and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted nine balls and made a low score before getting out to long-on; in the second, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

The current series has witnessed 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 side, made a brief return in recently and then spent a long period in the sidelines before coming back for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. Seems a lot has occurred in that time. I've discovered a lot about me. 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 working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's ability 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, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can go out and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

Following the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the world. 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 identical as the side that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a slightly amended team: three players drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players arrived in Auckland on Wednesday but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations means he will follow two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result he will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.