The English Team Postpone Team Announcement for Upcoming Twenty20 Fixture as Weather Force Inside Training
The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to hold the final practice run ahead of their next match against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.
The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Lower Down
Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, batting at five or six. “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 middle order now.’”
Before his recall in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If the team plan to keep him in this new position he requires every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”
Varied Performances in the Tour
Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it looks great and other times where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in New Zealand have seen one of each. In the opener, he lasted nine balls and scored nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.
Reflections on Return and Growth
This tour has witnessed Banton come back to the nation in which he made his international debut in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I've discovered a lot about me. The few years after I was left out from England was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was finding my way.”
Backing from Coaching Staff
Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”
Venue Change and Team Selection
Following the first two games of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of announcing their team ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the one that began the earlier fixtures.
Squad Adjustments 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 Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Most newcomers arrived in Auckland on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will arrive two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are not in the limited-overs team. Consequently Archer will be absent for the opening game at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.