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The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led them on midweek to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the last practice run ahead of their third game against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the pinnacle of their sport, in his situation it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, batting at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and told, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If the team intend to keep him in this altered role he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have seen one of each. In the first, he faced a few deliveries and made nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the second, he played a dozen balls, hit runs, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Return and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in recently and then passed a long period in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. Seems a lot has occurred in that period. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I was left out from England was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Support from Coaching Staff

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 works out how best to grasp it. “The coach approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know 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 minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with expansive playing area, England complete it on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their usual practice of revealing their team ahead of time while they determine if their preferred team here will be the identical as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to ODIs, with a slightly amended team: three players are omitted, while four others come in. Most newcomers landed in the city on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will follow two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. As a result he will miss the first match at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.