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England'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 conduct the last practice run ahead of their next match against New Zealand indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series serve, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: From Opener to Lower Down

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their game, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar position, coming in at the middle order. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If the team intend to retain him in this altered role he needs every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes 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 lasted nine balls and made nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Return and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. After that, he moved away of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then spent more than three years in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned a lot about me. The period after I was left out from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it gives me the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can go out and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

After playing the first two games of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on Thursday at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their team ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the side that began the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: three players drop out, while four others join the squad. Three of those players arrived in the city on Wednesday but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations means he will follow two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.