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England's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in the coming month led them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the last training session before their third game against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what role these two-team contests 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 New Role: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by athletes who have long since scaled the peak of their game, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an starting player, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, coming in at the middle order. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in June, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If the team plan to retain him in this altered role he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

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 seen one of each. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and made a low score before getting out to long-on; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Return and Development

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he moved away of the side, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed 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. Seems a lot has happened in that period. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The period after I got dropped from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years period where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given something new to work out. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it provides the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can step up and do it.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors finish the series on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the most compact in the sport. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team here will be the identical as the side that began the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Most newcomers landed in Auckland on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Test match buildup means he will arrive two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also building towards the longer format in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently he will miss the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.