🔗 Share this article

England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the final practice run ahead of their third game against the Kiwis inside. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what useful lessons 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 Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have already reached the pinnacle of their game, in his case it is undeniably true. After building his name as a frontline hitter, mostly as an starting player, Banton now occupies a totally new role, coming in at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘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 starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at No 4. If the team plan 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 concluded, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have seen one of each. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished not out.

Reflections on Return and Growth

This tour has seen Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for Harry Brook’s first T20 as skipper. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about myself. The period after I was left out from England was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been given something new to work out. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment 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 head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

Following the initial matches of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of revealing their team ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI for this match will be the identical as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: three players are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Three of those players landed in the city on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will arrive two days later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are not in the limited-overs team. Consequently Archer will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.