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England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the final training session before their third game against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what role these two-team contests fulfill, 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: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a totally new 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 June, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If the team intend to retain him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have seen one of each. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Return and Growth

The current series has seen Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he moved away of the side, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent a long period in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. Seems a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped from England was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to put him at ease while he figures out how best to grasp it. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it provides the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can step up and perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, England complete it on Thursday at Eden Park, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With changeable conditions and an new location they have abandoned their usual practice of announcing their team two days in advance while they determine if their preferred team here will be the identical as the one that began the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a slightly amended team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while four others come in. Most newcomers arrived in the city on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Test match buildup means he will follow two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.