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The English side's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month brought them on midweek to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the final practice run ahead of their next match against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what role these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

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

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by athletes who have long since scaled the peak of their game, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, coming in at the middle order. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If England intend to retain him in this new position he needs every chance to get used to it, and he has figured 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 comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the winter in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he played a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Return and Development

The current series has seen Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the team, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent more than three years in the wilderness 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 happened 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 two- to three-year period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Team Management

And now, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can go out and do it.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, England finish the series on the next day at Eden Park, a multi-use sports facility where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their recent habit of revealing their team ahead of time while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the identical as the one that started both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a slightly amended squad: three players 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 scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will follow two days later, flying with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also preparing for the longer format in the away series but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will miss the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.