🔗 Share this article England Postpone Squad Announcement for Upcoming T20 Fixture as Weather Compel Inside Training The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in February led them on midweek to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the last training session ahead of their third game against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is no concern. Tom Banton's New Role: From Opener to Lower Down The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their game, in his case it is undeniably true. After building his name as a frontline hitter, mostly as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, coming in at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’” Before his recall in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If the team plan to retain him in this altered role he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.” Mixed Results in New Zealand Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the opener, he faced nine balls and scored nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished not out. Reflections on Return and Development The current series has witnessed Banton come back to the nation in which he made his international debut in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in recently and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I've discovered a lot about myself. The period after I was left out from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was finding my way.” Support from Coaching Staff Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is thankful 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, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know 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’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can go out and do it.’” Shift in Location and Team Selection After playing the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their team two days in advance while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the one that began the earlier fixtures. Squad Adjustments for ODI Series On Friday, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed team: three players are omitted, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers arrived in Auckland on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Test match buildup means he will arrive later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result he will miss the first match at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.