🔗 Share this article England Postpone Squad Reveal for Upcoming T20 Match as Conditions Compel Indoor Training The English side's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the final training session before their next match against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series serve, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue. The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by players who have already reached the peak of their game, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, coming in at five or six. “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.’” Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If the team plan to retain him in this new position he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.” Mixed Results in New Zealand The player noted that “sometimes where it works well and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the tour in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the first, he faced a few deliveries and made nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings not out. Thoughts on Comeback and Growth The current series has seen Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in recently and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. Seems a lot has happened in that period. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years period where I was working myself out.” Support from Team Management Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to put him at ease 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 from the staff, but it gives me the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can step up and do it.’” Shift in Location and Team Selection Following the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With uncertain weather and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their lineup two days in advance while they determine if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the side that started both previous games. Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches On Friday, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: three players are omitted, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers arrived in Auckland on Wednesday but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will arrive later, flying with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are not in the limited-overs team. 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.