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The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to hold the last training session before their third game against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests serve, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by players who have long since scaled the peak of their sport, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a totally new role, batting at the middle order. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If the team plan to keep him in this altered role he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the tour in the host nation have seen one of each. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and made a low score before getting out to long-on; in the second, he played a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he made his international debut in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in 2022 and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before returning for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has occurred in that period. I've discovered a lot about me. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been given something new 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 figures out how best to grasp it. “The coach approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it provides the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can step up and perform.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

After playing the first two games of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the sport. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their recent habit of announcing their lineup two days in advance while they determine if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: three players drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Most newcomers arrived in Auckland on Wednesday but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations means he will follow two days later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the Tests in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will miss the first match at the venue, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.