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England's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month led them on midweek to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the last practice run ahead of their next match against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their game, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, primarily as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, batting at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, another 8% at third position and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If the team plan to retain him in this altered role he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the initial matches of the tour in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted nine balls and scored nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Development

The current series has seen Banton return to the nation in which he made his international debut in November 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the side, had a short comeback in 2022 and then passed a long period in the sidelines before returning for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I've discovered a lot about myself. The period after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years period 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 make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their usual practice of announcing their team ahead of time while they determine if their preferred team for this match will be the identical as the one that began the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: three players drop out, 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 implies he will arrive two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in Australia but are not in the limited-overs team. As a result Archer will be absent for the first match at the venue, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.