England Delay Squad Reveal for Upcoming Twenty20 Match as Weather Force Indoor Training
England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to conduct the last training session before their third game against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these two-team contests fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.
The Batter's Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Middle Order
Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated 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 top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a totally new role, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really 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 the summer, 87% of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, a further portion 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 intend to retain him in this altered role he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”
Varied Performances in New Zealand
Banton said that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have featured 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 faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished not out.
Reflections on Comeback and Growth
This tour has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. Since then, 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. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has occurred in that period. I've discovered a lot about myself. The few years after I was left out from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”
Support from Team Management
And now, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is grateful 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 came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can step up and perform.’”
Shift in Location and Squad Decisions
After playing the first two games of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on Thursday at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground 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 recent habit of announcing their lineup two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the one that began both previous games.
Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches
Next, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers arrived in the city on Wednesday but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will follow two days later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in the away series but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result he 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.
