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The English side's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in the coming month led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to hold the final practice run ahead of their next match against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's New Role: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their game, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, batting at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If England intend to keep him in this altered role he requires every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it looks great and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the winter in New Zealand have seen one of each. In the first, he faced nine balls and scored a low score before getting out to long-on; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Return and Growth

The current series has seen Banton come back to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, had a short comeback in recently and then passed a long period in the wilderness before returning for Harry Brook’s initial match as England captain. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has happened in that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The period after I got dropped from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's ability to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

After playing the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, England complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their recent habit of announcing their lineup ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the same as the one that began the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: three players drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Most newcomers landed in the city on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup implies he will follow two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in the away series but are not in the limited-overs team. Consequently he will be absent for the opening game at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.