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England's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month led them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to hold the last practice run before their third game against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what role these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled 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 completely unfamiliar role, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and told, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If the team intend to retain him in this altered role he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results 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 doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the winter in New Zealand have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

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. After that, he drifted back out of the team, had a short comeback in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before returning for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I’ve learned a lot about me. The few years after I was left out from England 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 a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it provides the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can go out and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

Following the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, England complete it 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 sport. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of revealing their lineup ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the side that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

On Friday, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: three players drop out, while four others come in. Three of those players arrived in the city on Wednesday but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the Tests in Australia but are not in the white-ball squad. Consequently he will be absent for the first match at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.