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The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month led them on midweek to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the final practice run before their next match against New Zealand indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series serve, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's New Role: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

The cricketer 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 pinnacle of their game, in his situation it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, coming in at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and told, ‘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 opener, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If the team intend to keep him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it looks great and other times where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in New Zealand have featured one of each. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and scored nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as skipper. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. Seems a lot has occurred in that period. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I was left out from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it provides the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

Following the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their lineup ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the side 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 slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive two days later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the Tests in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will miss the opening game at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.