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England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month led them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to hold the last training session before their third game against the Kiwis inside. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, 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 “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an starting player, Banton now occupies a totally new role, batting at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and told, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at No3 and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a domestic T20 game previously – at No 4. If the team plan to retain 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 concluded, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the opener, he lasted nine balls and made a low score before getting out to long-on; in the second, he played a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished not out.

Reflections on Return and Development

The current series has witnessed Banton come back to the nation in which he made his international debut in November 2019. After that, he moved away of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has happened in that time. 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 two- to three-year period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's skill to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it gives me the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

Following the first two games of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, England finish the series on Thursday at Eden Park, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the sport. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their recent habit of announcing their lineup ahead of time while they work out if their preferred team here will be the same as the one that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

Next, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Most newcomers landed in Auckland on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Test match buildup implies he will follow two days later, flying with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result he will miss the opening game at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.