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The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on midweek to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the last training session before their next match against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

The Batter's Changed Position: Starting Batsman 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 sport, in his situation it is undeniably true. After building his name as a top-order batter, primarily as an starting player, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in June, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at third position and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If the team intend to retain him in this new position he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it looks great 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 a few deliveries and scored nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings not out.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

The current series has seen 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 side, had a short comeback in recently and then spent a long period in the wilderness before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has happened in that period. I've discovered a lot about me. The period after I got dropped from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's skill to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it provides the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can go out and do it.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

After playing the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their team ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the one that began the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: three players are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Most newcomers landed in the city on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will follow two days later, flying with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also building towards the longer format in the away series but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result he will miss the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.