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The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in February brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the last practice run before their third game against New Zealand indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these two-team contests serve, 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 “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by athletes who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their game, in his situation it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, primarily as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at No 4. If England plan to keep him in this altered role he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “sometimes where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have featured one of each. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and scored a low score before getting out to long-on; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton come back to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed a long period in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as England captain. “During the journey, 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 was left out from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's skill to make him comfortable 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 someone says, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so minor 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 Team Selection

After playing the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, the visitors finish the series on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at a short distance is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an new location they have dropped their recent habit of announcing their lineup two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team here will be the identical as the one that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they travel to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: three players are omitted, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers arrived in Auckland on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive two days later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are not in the limited-overs team. Consequently he will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.