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England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in February brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to hold the last practice run ahead of their next match against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what purpose these two-team contests fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: Starting Batsman 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 peak of their game, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar position, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at third position and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at fourth place. If the team intend to retain him in this new position he requires every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton come back to the nation in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he moved away of the side, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I’ve learned a lot about me. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years period where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing someone says, but it provides the backing that if it doesn't work, 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.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

After playing the initial matches of the series at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, England complete it on Thursday at Eden Park, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of revealing their lineup ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the one that started the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Most newcomers arrived in Auckland on Wednesday 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 the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result he will miss the first match at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.