Three key questions for England to answer on their T20 tour of New Zealand

England face the Blackcaps in five T20 internationals over the coming days. SAM MORSHEAD picks out three crucial areas

Can Banton hack it?

It has been quite a year for Tom Banton, the precocious Somerset batsman.

The T20 Blast’s second top runscorer wowed county audiences with outrageous reverse sweeps and powerful hitting down the ground, as well as making an important half-century during his side’s Royal London One-Day Cup final triumph against Hampshire at Lord’s.

His performances led to both the PCA and Cricket Writers Club young player of the year gongs, a first England call-up and a Big Bash contract. Now the real work begins.

Banton is a ludicrously talented ballstriker, blessed with tremendous hand-eye coordination and a rare ability to find spaces which most of us would not immediately realise were even there.

But stepping up from the county game into the international arena will test anyone’s technique, and the 20-year-old will certainly be given a baptism of fire by the likes of Lockie Ferguson and Trent Boult charging in at him during the powerplay overs.

Ferguson dismissed the England opener in the first of two warm-up matches in Lincoln over recent days, and Banton failed to make a major impact in either innings but during his brief T20 career to date the youngster fires much more often than he shoots blanks.

This tour will likely be his only major chance to establish himself in England colours ahead of next autumn’s T20 World Cup, given the majority of the team’s headline names have been rested for the five-match series, and if he lives up to his career strike rate in the mid 150s and average of nearly 40, he will make himself almost impossible to ignore.

^{Tom Banton will make his international debut}

Will Rashid’s shoulder hold?

Adil Rashid might as well have been held together by sellotape during the latter stages of the World Cup last summer.

In a revealing interview ahead of the New Zealand series, the legspinner explained how he only managed to get through the workload of all 11 matches thanks to steroid injections.

At times, he said, he was unable to raise his right arm.

That he is back and fit to feature in these five matches against the Blackcaps is credit to the rehabilitation schedule set out for him by the medical departments of England and Yorkshire, but he has barely tested the troublesome shoulder in match situations since.

Four overs in the first warm-up at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval brought him figures of 4-25 and no sign of any ill-effects, and England will be hoping he makes it through the series unscathed.

If he doesn’t, the onus will fall on Lancashire’s spin prospect, Matt Parkinson, to fill the void.

Parkinson enjoyed a breakthrough county campaign, in which he claimed 21 wickets at less than 15 apiece, in addition to an impressive economy of 7.84, but being asked to make your T20I debut as a legspinner in New Zealand - its intimate ground dimensions are in stark contrast to the sizeable boundaries Parkinson has been used to defending at Old Trafford - is hardly a dream assignment first up. 

^{Matt Parkinson will deputise for Adil Rashid}

Can Pat Brown make the step up?

Pat Brown only graduated from Worcester University’s business school earlier this year, but he is already recognised as one of the most exciting white-ball bowling talents in English cricket.

Brown’s collection of knuckleballs, yorkers and the surprise short-un has been a feature of Worcestershire Rapids’ rise to T20 Blast prominence over the past two seasons and it was only a matter of time before he got his chance on the international stage.

Now comes the acid test.

The youngster faces a baptism of fire in New Zealand, where he will be up against Martin Guptill and Colin Munro in the early overs. 

Guptill averages 44 in home T20Is (compared to his career equivalent of 33.57) and 55.4 in home T20s against England, while Munro gave a reminder of just how destructive he can be with a blitzkrieg century in the second warm-up encounter prior to the five-match series.

The pair have put together three century stands for the opening wicket in T20 internationals, hit powerfully through the line of the ball and will quickly latch onto any momentary uncertainty from young bowlers.

Brown, then, needs to show the same cool head as he has displayed for his county these past two years - 17 wickets this season following his competition-leading 31 in 2018.

The data suggests Brown faces his bigger test against Munro, given the disparity in his economy rates versus left and right-handers in the powerplay. The seamer’s economy rate in the first six overs against left-handers (9.22) is substantially worse than his equivalent against right-handers (8.04), while Brown knows much more about Guptill’s relative strengths and weaknesses thanks to the Kiwi’s stints at New Road.

It will be in the death overs, however, where England will surely use Brown the most.

Over the course of the past two years there have been few better in the final third of a T20 Blast innings. Thirty wickets at an average of 11.94, with an economy of a shade over 8, is a mighty fine return. No wonder he has been looked at by Big Bash franchises, and bagged himself a Hundred gig without the need of the draft.

England are blessed with several death-bowling seam options for next year’s T20 World Cup - Harry Gurney (remarkably not picked for this tour), Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes being the pick of the crop - and the New Zealand trip is a fine chance for Brown to get a headstart on most of the rest.

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