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England's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month brought them on midweek to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the final practice run ahead of their third game against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what role these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

The Batter's Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by players who have already reached the peak of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If England plan to retain him in this altered role he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the first, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Return and Development

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, had a short comeback in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped 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 something new to work out. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to put him at ease while he figures 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 liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it provides the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can go out and perform.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

Following the first two games of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors finish the series on Thursday at Eden Park, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their lineup ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the side that began the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: three players drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players landed in the city on Wednesday but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently he 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.