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The English side's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to conduct the final practice run ahead of their third game against the Kiwis inside. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, 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 regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, batting at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at No3 and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If the team plan to retain him in this altered role he requires every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it looks great and other times where it fails”, and the first two games of the winter in New Zealand have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he faced a few deliveries and scored a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the second, he played a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Development

This tour has seen Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed a long period in the sidelines before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as skipper. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. Seems a lot has happened in that time. 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 working myself out.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to grasp it. “The coach came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can go out and do it.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

Following the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors finish the series on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the shortest in the sport. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of revealing their team ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the one that began the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed squad: three players drop out, while four others come in. Most newcomers arrived in Auckland on Wednesday but the scheduling of the bowler's Test match buildup implies he will arrive two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also building towards the Tests in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.