England Delay Team Announcement for Latest T20 Fixture as Conditions Force Inside Training
The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in February brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the final training session before their next match against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these two-team contests serve, what valuable insights 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 Lower Down
The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by athletes who have long since scaled the peak of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, batting at the middle order. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”
Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at No3 and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If England plan to retain him in this new position he requires every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”
Mixed Results in New Zealand
Banton said that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and other times where it fails”, and the first two games of the winter in the host nation have seen one of each. In the first, he lasted nine balls and scored a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, scored 29, and ended the innings not out.
Thoughts on Return and Growth
This tour has seen Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he moved away 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. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. Seems a lot has occurred in that period. 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 working myself out.”
Support from Coaching Staff
And now, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to put him at ease while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach 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 realize 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, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can step up and perform.’”
Venue Change and Team Selection
After playing the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, England finish the series on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the most compact in the sport. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their team ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the side that started both previous games.
Upcoming Changes for ODI Series
Next, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a slightly amended team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers landed in Auckland on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations means he will arrive later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are not in the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will be absent for the first match at the venue, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.