The English Team Postpone Squad Reveal for Latest T20 Fixture as Weather Compel Indoor Training

England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the final training session ahead of their third game against New Zealand indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what role these two-team contests fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Lower Down

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After building his name as a top-order batter, primarily as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, 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 middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If England plan to retain him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it looks great and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the tour in the host nation have seen one of each. In the first, he lasted nine balls and scored a low score before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the side, had a short comeback in recently and then spent a long period 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 made my debut. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about myself. The period after I got dropped from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been assigned something new to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing someone says, but it gives me 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.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

Following the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on Thursday at Eden Park, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their recent habit of revealing their lineup ahead of time while they work out if their preferred team here will be the same as the side that started both previous games.

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 team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players landed in Auckland on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will follow two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result he will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.