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England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in February led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to hold the last training session before their third game against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious 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 no concern.

Tom Banton's New Role: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, 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 situation it is undeniably true. After building his name as a top-order batter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, batting at the middle order. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and told, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend to keep him in this new position he needs every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have featured one of each. In the first, he faced nine balls and made a low score before holing out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played a dozen balls, hit runs, and finished not out.

Reflections on Return and Growth

This tour has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he made his international debut in November 2019. Since then, he moved away of the team, had a short comeback in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as England captain. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has happened in that period. I've discovered a lot about me. The few years 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 Coaching Staff

And now, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to put him at ease while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize 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 minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

After playing the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, England finish the series on the next day at Eden Park, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest 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 same as the one that started the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players arrived in the city on Wednesday but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will miss the first match at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.