🔗 Share this article England Delay Team Announcement for Upcoming T20 Fixture as Conditions Compel Inside Training England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month led them on midweek to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the final practice run ahead of their third game against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue. The Batter's New Role: Starting Batsman to Middle Order Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, 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 middle order now.’” Before his recall in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game previously – at No 4. If the team plan to retain him in this new position he needs every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.” Mixed Results in the Tour The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it looks great and other times where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have seen one of each. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and scored nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings not out. Thoughts on Comeback and Development This tour has witnessed Banton come back 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 passed more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has happened in that period. I’ve learned a lot about me. The period after I got dropped from England was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was working myself out.” Backing from Team Management Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful 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 seize the opportunity. “Baz approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can go out and do it.’” Shift in Location and Team Selection After playing the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with expansive playing area, England complete it on Thursday at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their team two days in advance while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the same as the one that began the earlier fixtures. Squad Adjustments for ODI Series On Friday, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a slightly amended squad: three players are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Three of those players landed in Auckland on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will arrive later, flying with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently Archer will miss the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.