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The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent 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 third game against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what role these two-team contests fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their game, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances 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 previously – at No 4. If England plan to keep him in this altered role he requires every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have seen one of each. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and scored a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

This tour has seen Banton return to the nation in which he made his international debut in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then passed a long period in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has happened in that time. I’ve learned a lot about me. 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 working myself out.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned something new to work out. Banton is grateful 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 approached 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 just a brief comment someone says, but it provides the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can go out and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, England complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a multi-use sports facility where the straight boundary at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an new location they have dropped their recent habit of revealing their team two days in advance while they determine if their preferred team here will be the same as the side that began the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: three players drop out, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers landed in the city on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Test match buildup means he will arrive later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. As a result he will miss the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.