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The English side's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the final training session before their next match against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these two-team contests fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

The Batter's Changed Position: From Opener to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the pinnacle of their game, in his case it is undeniably true. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an starting player, Banton now occupies a totally new position, coming in at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game previously – at No 4. If the team intend 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: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.”

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 initial matches of the winter in New Zealand have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he faced a few deliveries and made nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton come back to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed a long period in the sidelines before returning for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been assigned something new to work out. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to grasp it. “The coach approached 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 just a brief comment from the staff, but it provides the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, England finish the series on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their recent habit of revealing their lineup two days in advance while they determine if their ideal XI for this match will be the identical as the one that began the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed squad: three players are omitted, while four others come in. Three of those players landed in the city on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Test match buildup implies he will follow two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are not in the limited-overs team. Consequently he will miss the opening game at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.