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England's training sessions 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 compelled to conduct the final practice run ahead of their next match against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by players who have long since scaled the peak of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a totally new role, coming in at the middle order. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in June, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, a further portion 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 intend to keep him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

The player noted that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the winter in the host nation have featured one of each. In the first, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the second, he played a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then spent a long period in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s first T20 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 occurred 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 couple of years period where I was working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to grasp it. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment from the staff, 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 backing from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

After playing the initial matches of the series at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, England complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at 55m is among the most compact in the sport. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of revealing their team ahead of time while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the one that started both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, 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 arrived in Auckland on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will follow later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently Archer will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.