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England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the last practice run ahead of their third game against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these two-team contests fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – 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

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by athletes who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself 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 middle order now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If England intend to keep him in this altered role he needs every chance to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it looks great and other times where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in New Zealand have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he played 12 deliveries, scored 29, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he moved away of the side, made a brief return in 2022 and then spent more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as England captain. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about myself. The few years after I was left out from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it provides the support that if it doesn’t come off, 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 head coach and I can go out and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their usual practice of revealing their team ahead of time while they work out if their preferred team here will be the identical as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Most newcomers landed in the city on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will follow later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. As a result he will be absent for the first match at the venue, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.