🔗 Share this article England Delay Team Announcement for Latest T20 Match as Conditions Force Indoor Practice England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to hold the last practice run before their third game against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is no concern. The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by athletes who have already reached the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many conversations,” 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 the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, a further portion at third position and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – 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 already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.” Varied Performances in the Tour Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the winter in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the opener, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten. Reflections on Return and Development The current series has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. Seems a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned a lot about me. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was finding my way.” Support from Coaching Staff And now, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing 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 small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can go out and do it.’” Venue Change and Squad Decisions Following the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, England finish the series on Thursday at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the most compact in the sport. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their usual practice of announcing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the side that began the earlier fixtures. Squad Adjustments for ODI Series On Friday, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers arrived in the city on Wednesday but the timing of the bowler's Test match buildup means he will arrive later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result he will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.