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England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led 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 the Kiwis inside. It is not always obvious what role these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by players who have already reached the peak of their sport, in his situation it is undeniably true. After building his name as a top-order batter, mostly as an starting player, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar role, batting at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game previously – at No 4. If England intend to retain him in this new position he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

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 first two games of the winter in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and scored nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Comeback and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton come back to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then passed a long period in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about me. The period 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 Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to put him at ease while he works out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring 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 a disaster. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can go out and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

Following the initial matches of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, England complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an new location they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their lineup ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the one that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: three players drop out, while four others come in. Most newcomers landed in the city on Wednesday but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will arrive later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the longer format in the away series but are not in the limited-overs team. As a result he will miss the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.