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England's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to conduct the final practice run ahead of their third game against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series serve, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

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

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by athletes who have long since scaled the peak of their game, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, batting at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, a further portion at third position and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at fourth place. If England intend to keep him in this altered role he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

The player noted that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted nine balls and scored nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

This tour has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent a long period in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. Seems a lot has occurred in that period. I've discovered a lot about me. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it provides the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can go out and do it.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, England finish the series on the next day at Eden Park, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of revealing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the side that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments 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 drop out, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers landed in the city on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Test match buildup means he will follow later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will miss the opening game at the venue, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.