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The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to hold the final training session ahead of their third game against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: From Opener to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, 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 case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, batting at the middle order. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at fourth place. If England intend to retain him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it looks great and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the winter in New Zealand have seen one of each. In the first, he lasted nine balls and made a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Return and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, had a short comeback in recently and then spent a long period in the sidelines before returning for Harry Brook’s initial match as skipper. “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 few years after I got dropped from England was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, 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, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice 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 work, it’s not the end of the world. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can go out and perform.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, the visitors finish the series 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 usual practice of revealing their lineup two days in advance while they work out if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to Mount Maunganui 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. Three of those players arrived in the city on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup implies he will arrive later, flying with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently he will miss the opening game at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.