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England's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in February led them on midweek to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were compelled to hold the final training session ahead of their third game against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by players who have long since scaled the peak of their game, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a top-order batter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, batting at five or six. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in June, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If the team plan to retain him in this altered role he requires every chance 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

Banton said that “sometimes where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the first two games of the winter in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the opener, he faced nine balls and scored a low score before getting out to long-on; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

This tour has witnessed Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. After that, he moved away of the side, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent a long period in the sidelines before returning for Harry Brook’s initial match as skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was working myself out.”

Support from Team Management

And now, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's skill to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [Monday’s second T20] 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 support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can go out and perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, England finish the series on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the most compact in the sport. With uncertain weather and an new location they have dropped their recent habit of announcing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the identical as the one that began the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a slightly amended team: three players are omitted, while four others join the squad. Three of those players landed in the city on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup means he will follow later, travelling 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 be absent for the opening game at the venue, the stadium where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.