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The English side's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month brought them on midweek to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were compelled to hold the final training session before their next match against New Zealand indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the pinnacle 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 suddenly finds himself a totally new role, coming in at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and told, ‘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 opener, another 8% 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 plan to keep him in this new position he requires every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “sometimes where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have seen one of each. In the first, he faced a few deliveries and scored a low score before getting out to long-on; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Return and Development

The current series has seen Banton come back to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the side, had a short comeback in recently and then passed a long period in the sidelines before returning for Harry Brook’s initial match as skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed 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 finding my way.”

Support from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been assigned something new to work out. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's ability to put him at ease while he works out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” 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’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

Following the first two games of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, England complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the most compact in the sport. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their recent habit of announcing their lineup two days in advance while they work out if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the side that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a slightly amended team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while four others join the squad. Three of those players arrived in the city on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Test match buildup implies he will follow two days later, flying with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also preparing for the Tests in Australia but are not in the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will miss the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.