🔗 Share this article

England's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to hold the final practice run before their next match against the Kiwis inside. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series serve, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their game, in his case it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a top-order batter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new 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 lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in June, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If England plan to keep him in this altered role he needs every chance to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it fails”, and the initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have featured one of each. In the first, he lasted nine balls and scored nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he moved away of the side, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. Seems a lot has occurred in that period. I’ve learned a lot about me. The period after I was left out from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Team Management

And now, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's skill to put him at ease 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 nice 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, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can go out and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

After playing the first two games of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the sport. With uncertain weather and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of revealing their lineup two days in advance while they determine if their ideal XI for this match will be the identical as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while four others come in. Three of those players arrived in the city on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Test match buildup implies he will follow later, flying with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. As a result he will miss the opening game at the venue, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.