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The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on midweek to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the final training session before their next match 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 instance, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

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 peak of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After building his name as a frontline hitter, mostly as an starting player, Banton now occupies a totally new position, coming in at five or six. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, a further portion at third position and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If England plan to retain him in this altered role he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have featured one of each. In the opener, he lasted nine balls and made nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, scored 29, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Comeback and Development

The current series has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he made his international debut in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then spent a long period in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. Seems a lot has occurred in that period. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The period after I was left out from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Team Management

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 ability to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it provides the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can go out and perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

After playing the initial matches of the series at the South Island ground, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, England finish the series on the next day at Eden Park, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the most compact in the sport. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their recent habit of announcing their lineup ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the side that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: three players are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Most newcomers arrived in the city on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will arrive later, flying with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in the away series but are not in the white-ball squad. Consequently he will miss the first match at the venue, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.