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The English side's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in February brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to hold the last practice run before 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 occasion, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

The Batter's Changed Position: From Opener 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 long since scaled the pinnacle of their sport, in his situation it is undeniably true. After building his name as a top-order batter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, batting at the middle order. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at No 4. If the team plan to retain him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the first two games of the winter in the host nation have featured one of each. In the opener, he lasted nine balls and scored nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Comeback and Development

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent a long period in the sidelines before returning for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I've discovered 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.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice 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 come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so small 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 the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, England complete it on the next day at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the most compact in the sport. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the identical as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, 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 the bowler's Test match buildup implies he will follow later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also preparing for the Tests in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently he will be absent for the first match at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.