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England's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in February led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to hold the final training session ahead of their third game against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these two-team contests fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their game, in his situation it is undeniably true. After building his name as a frontline hitter, mostly as an starting player, Banton now occupies a totally new position, 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 middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, another 8% at third position and the rest – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at fourth place. If the team intend to retain him in this altered role he requires every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it works well 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 one of each. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and scored a low score before holing out to long-on; in the second, he played a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before returning for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was weird,” 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 England was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was finding my way.”

Support from Team Management

And now, he has been assigned something new to work out. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” 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 a disaster. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

After playing the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, England finish the series 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 sport. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the identical as the one that started the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: three players drop out, while four others come in. Most newcomers arrived in Auckland on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations means he will follow two days later, flying with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently he will miss the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.