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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 compelled to hold the last training session ahead of their third game against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what role these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

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 often repeated even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their sport, in his case it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar role, batting at the middle order. “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 the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If the team plan to retain him in this altered role he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in New Zealand have seen both outcomes. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and made a low score before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he played a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings not out.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

The current series has seen Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he moved away of the side, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before returning for Harry Brook’s initial match as England captain. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned a lot about me. The period after I got dropped from England was a difficult phase 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 tackle. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's skill to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it gives me the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. 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 perform.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

After playing the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium 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 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their lineup ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the same as the one that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers arrived in Auckland on Wednesday but the timing of the bowler's Test match buildup means he will arrive two days later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result he will miss the first match at the venue, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.