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England's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on midweek to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the final training session ahead of their next match against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose 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: From Opener to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by players who have already reached the pinnacle of their game, in his situation it is undeniably true. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar position, coming in at the middle order. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at third position and the rest – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If the team intend to retain him in this altered role he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in New Zealand have seen both outcomes. In the opener, he faced a few deliveries and made a low score before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he played a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton come back to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about me. The few years after I was left out from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been assigned something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's ability to make him comfortable while he works out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach approached 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 only a small thing someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can go out and do it.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

Following the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, 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 55m is among the most compact in the sport. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their usual practice of announcing their team ahead of time while they determine if their preferred team here will be the identical as the one that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

On Friday, they travel to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed team: three players are omitted, while four others come in. Most newcomers landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will arrive later, flying with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result he will miss the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.