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England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month led them on midweek to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the last practice run ahead of their third game against New Zealand indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what role these two-team contests serve, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by players who have already reached the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, primarily as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar position, coming in at five or six. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and told, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at third position and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If the team plan to keep him in this altered role he needs every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it fails”, and the initial matches of the tour in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the opener, he faced a few deliveries and made nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then spent a long period in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. Seems a lot has happened in that period. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I was left out from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been given something new to work out. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can go out and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

Following the initial matches of the series at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, England complete it on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their recent habit of announcing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the side that began the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while four others come in. Most newcomers landed in Auckland on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup means he will follow two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the longer format in the away series but are not in the limited-overs team. As a result he will miss the opening game at the venue, the stadium where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.