🔗 Share this article England Delay Squad Announcement for Upcoming T20 Fixture as Weather Force Inside Practice The English side's preparations for a warm, arid 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 compelled to hold the final practice run before their next match against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is no concern. Tom Banton's Changed Position: From Opener to Lower Down The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by athletes who have already reached the pinnacle of their game, in his case it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar role, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and told, ‘Your role will be 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 starting batsman, a further portion at third position and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If the team intend to retain him in this altered role he requires every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.” Varied Performances in New Zealand Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it works well 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 played a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten. Thoughts on Comeback and Development The current series has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he made his international debut in November 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before returning for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed 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 the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.” Support from Coaching Staff Currently, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to grasp it. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’” Shift in Location and Team Selection After playing the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather 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 the earlier fixtures. Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches Next, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a slightly amended team: three players drop out, while four others come in. Three of those players landed in Auckland on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will follow later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result he will miss the first match at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.