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England's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the last training session ahead of their next match against the Kiwis inside. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by players who have already reached the pinnacle of their game, in his case it is undeniably true. After building his name as a frontline hitter, mostly as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, batting 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.’”

Before his recall in June, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at fourth place. If England plan to retain him in this altered role he requires every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

The player noted that “sometimes where it works well and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the first two games of the winter in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the first, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he played a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Return and Growth

This tour has seen Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the side, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent more than three years in the wilderness before returning for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. Seems a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. 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 working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been assigned something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to put him at ease while he figures out how best to grasp it. “The coach approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head 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 support that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can step up 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, England complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of revealing their team ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the side that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Three of those players arrived in Auckland on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Test match buildup implies he will arrive two days later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result he will miss the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.