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England's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led them on midweek to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were compelled to hold the final training session before their third game against the Kiwis inside. The purpose isn't always clear what role these two-team contests fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order

The cricketer 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 situation it is undeniably true. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in June, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If England plan to retain him in this altered role he requires every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

The player noted that “sometimes 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 both outcomes. In the first, he faced a few deliveries and scored nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before returning for Harry Brook’s initial match as skipper. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that period. I've discovered a lot about me. The period after I got dropped from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. 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 seize the opportunity. “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 realize it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it provides the backing 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 approval from the manager and I can go out and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the shortest in the sport. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their team two days in advance while they determine if their preferred team here will be the identical as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they travel to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: three players are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Most newcomers landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will follow later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the Tests in Australia but are not in the white-ball squad. Consequently he will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.