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The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the last training session before their next match against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what role these bilateral series serve, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by athletes who have long since scaled the peak of their sport, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar role, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” 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.’”

Prior to returning in June, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, a further portion at third position and the rest – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at fourth place. If England intend to retain him in this new position he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

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 initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have featured both outcomes. In the first, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Thoughts on Comeback and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country 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 wilderness before returning for Harry Brook’s first T20 as skipper. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. Seems a lot has occurred in that period. I've discovered a lot about myself. The period after I was left out from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to make him comfortable while he works out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it gives me the support 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 manager and I can step up and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose 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 usual practice of announcing their lineup two days in advance while they determine if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: three players drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Most newcomers arrived in the city on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations means he will arrive two days later, flying with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are not in the limited-overs team. As a result Archer will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.