🔗 Share this article

England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month led them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the final practice run before their third game against New Zealand indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the peak of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an starting player, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, batting at the middle order. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and told, ‘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 opener, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If England 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: “Playing down the 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 comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in New Zealand have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and scored nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the second, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

The current series has seen Banton come back to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. Since then, he moved away of the team, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent a long period in the wilderness before returning 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 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.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to grasp it. “The coach approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it provides the backing 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 backing from the head coach and I can go out and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

After playing the first two games of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, England finish the series on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose sports facility where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their recent habit of revealing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team 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 shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed team: three players drop out, while four others come in. Three of those players arrived in the city on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup implies he will arrive later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in Australia but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result he will be absent for the first match at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.