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England's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to conduct the last training session ahead of their next match against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what role these bilateral series fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's New Role: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their game, in his situation it is undeniably true. After building his name as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar position, coming in at five or six. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, the vast majority 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 seventh spot in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend 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 surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

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 initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have featured one of each. In the opener, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, scored 29, and finished not out.

Reflections on Return and Development

The current series has witnessed Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he moved away of the side, had a short comeback in recently and then passed a long period in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about me. The period after I got dropped from England was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's skill to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can go out and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

Following the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, England finish the series on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. 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 ideal XI for this match will be the same as the one that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: three players 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 Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in Australia but are not in the limited-overs team. Consequently he will miss the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.