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England's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the last training session ahead of their next match against New Zealand indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

The cricketer 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 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 completely unfamiliar role, coming in at the middle order. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in June, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at third position and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at fourth place. If England plan to keep him in this altered role he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the winter in New Zealand have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he faced a few deliveries and made a low score before holing out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played a dozen balls, hit runs, and finished unbeaten.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

The current series has seen Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in 2022 and then spent a long period in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “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 me. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's skill to make him comfortable while he works out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing someone says, but it provides the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. 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 do it.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

After playing the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, England finish the series 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 announcing their lineup two days in advance while they work out if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the one that began the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players arrived in the city on Wednesday but the timing of the bowler's Test match buildup implies he will follow later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently he will be absent for the first match at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.