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The English side's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to conduct the last practice run before their next match against New Zealand indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

The Batter's New Role: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their game, in his situation it is undeniably true. After building his name as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar position, coming in at the middle order. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team 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 third position and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at fourth place. If England plan to keep him in this altered role he needs every chance to get used to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the opener, he lasted nine balls and made nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, hit runs, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he moved away of the side, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent a long period in the wilderness before returning for Harry Brook’s initial match as skipper. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has happened in that period. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years period where I was working myself out.”

Support from Team Management

And now, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's skill to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it provides the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

After playing the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, England complete it on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their lineup ahead of time while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: three players are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players landed in the city on Wednesday but the timing of the bowler's Test match buildup means he will follow later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are not in the limited-overs team. As a result he will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.