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The English side's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in February led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the final practice run ahead of their next match against the Kiwis inside. It is not always obvious what role these bilateral series serve, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's New Role: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by players who have long since scaled the peak of their game, in his case it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a top-order batter, primarily as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and told, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in June, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, another 8% at third position and the rest – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If England intend to retain him in this altered role he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it looks great and other times where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he faced nine balls and scored a low score before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, hit runs, and finished not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in recently and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. Seems a lot has occurred in that time. I've discovered a lot about me. The period after I was left out from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was finding my way.”

Support from Team Management

And now, he has been assigned something new to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to put him at ease while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

After playing the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their team ahead of time while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Most newcomers arrived in the city on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will follow later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently he will miss the first match at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.