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England's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the final training session 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 learned – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

The Batter's New Role: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After building his name as a top-order batter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and told, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at fourth place. If the team intend to keep him in this new position he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it looks great and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have featured one of each. In the opener, he faced a few deliveries and scored a low score before getting out to long-on; in the second, he played a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Return and Growth

This tour 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 team, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent a long period in the wilderness before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has happened in that period. I’ve learned a lot about me. The period after I was left out from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Team Management

And now, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

Following the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, England finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their recent habit of revealing their team two days in advance while they determine if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the one that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: three players are omitted, while four others come in. Three of those players arrived in the city on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup means he will arrive later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result he will miss the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.