🔗 Share this article England Delay Squad Reveal for Upcoming T20 Fixture as Conditions Compel Indoor Practice England's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to hold the final practice run ahead of their third game against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is no concern. The Batter's New Role: Starting Batsman to Lower Down The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the pinnacle of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’” Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If England intend to keep him in this new position he needs every chance to get used to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.” Varied Performances in New Zealand Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he lasted nine balls and made nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished unbeaten. Reflections on Comeback and Growth The current series has witnessed Banton return to the country 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 skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped from England 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 given another chance, and also for the coach's skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to grasp it. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] 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 provides the backing 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 head coach and I can step up and perform.’” Venue Change and Squad Decisions Following the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on Thursday at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of revealing their team ahead of time while they determine if their preferred team here will be the identical as the side that started the earlier fixtures. Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Three of those players arrived in Auckland on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will miss the opening game at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.