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England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the final practice run ahead of their third game against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these two-team contests fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

The Batter's New Role: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated 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 top-order batter, primarily as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, batting at the middle order. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend to keep him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the opener, he lasted nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Return and Development

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, had a short comeback in recently and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as skipper. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. Seems a lot has happened in that period. I've discovered a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Team Management

And now, he has been assigned something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill 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 freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can step up and perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the shortest in the sport. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their team ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI for this match will be the identical as the side that began the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: three players drop out, while four others come in. Most newcomers arrived in the city on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations means he will arrive later, travelling 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 he will miss the first match at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.