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England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were compelled to conduct the last practice run before their third game against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these two-team contests serve, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton 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 pinnacle of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an starting player, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, coming in at five or six. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in June, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game previously – at No 4. If the team plan to keep him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

The player noted that “sometimes where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the winter in New Zealand have featured one of each. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the second, he played a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he moved away of the team, made a brief return in recently and then spent a long period in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about myself. The period after I was left out from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was finding my way.”

Support from Coaching Staff

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 put him at ease while he works out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it provides the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can go out and perform.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

Following the initial matches of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with expansive playing area, the visitors complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their recent habit of revealing their lineup two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the identical as the one that began the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others join the squad. Three of those players landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will arrive later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in the away series but are not in the limited-overs team. As a result Archer will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.