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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 New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the last training session before their third game against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests fulfill, 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: From Opener to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the peak 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 position, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in June, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at fourth place. If the team plan to keep him in this altered role he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it looks great and other times where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in New Zealand have featured both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and scored a low score before getting out to long-on; in the second, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

This tour has seen 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, had a short comeback in recently and then passed a long period in the wilderness before coming back 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 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.”

Support from Team Management

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to work out. 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. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know 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 go out and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on the next day at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their team ahead of time while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

Next, they move to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Most newcomers landed in the city on Wednesday but the scheduling of the bowler's Test match buildup means he will follow later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in Australia but are excluded from 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.