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The English side's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in February brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the final practice run before their next match against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what purpose these two-team contests serve, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an starting player, 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 informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If England intend to retain him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder 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 other times where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the first, he faced nine balls and scored a low score before holing out to long-on; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

This tour has seen Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he moved away of the side, had a short comeback in recently and then spent a long period in the sidelines before returning for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about me. The few years after I was left out from England was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was finding my way.”

Support from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to grasp it. “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 realize it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

Following the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, England finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their team two days in advance while they determine if their preferred team here will be the identical as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others come in. Most newcomers arrived in the city on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will follow two days later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the Tests in Australia but are excluded from the limited-overs team. As a result he will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.