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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 cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to hold the final practice run before their next match against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, mostly as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If England plan to keep him in this new position he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “sometimes where it works well and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and scored a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Comeback and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. After that, he moved away of the side, made a brief return in recently and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before returning for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. Seems a lot has happened in that period. 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 couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Support from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned something new to work out. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's skill to put him at ease while he figures 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 nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it provides the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

Following the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, England complete it on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the shortest in the sport. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their recent habit of announcing their team ahead of time while they work out if their preferred team here will be the identical as the side that started both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

Next, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: three players are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Most newcomers arrived in the city on Wednesday but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently he will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.