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England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the last practice run before their third game against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: From Opener 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 peak of their game, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton now occupies a totally new position, batting at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend 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 surmised, “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 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 a few deliveries and made a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton come back to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. Since then, he moved away of the side, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that period. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The period after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was finding my way.”

Support from Team Management

And now, he has been assigned something new to work out. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to grasp it. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it provides the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

After playing the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, England complete it on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the shortest in the sport. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their team ahead of time while they work out 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 move to the coastal town and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: three players drop out, 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 timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations means he will follow later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also building towards the Tests in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result he will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the stadium where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.