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England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to hold the final practice run ahead of their third game against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's New Role: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by players who have already reached the peak of their game, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, batting at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at third position and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at fourth place. If the team plan to keep him in this new position he needs every chance to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in New Zealand have seen one of each. In the opener, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he played 12 deliveries, scored 29, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

This tour has seen Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I was left out from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to put him at ease while he works out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can step up and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on the next day at Eden Park, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With changeable conditions and an new location 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 same as the side that began the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they travel to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to ODIs, with a slightly amended squad: three players drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Most newcomers arrived in Auckland on Wednesday but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will follow two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are not in 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 only previous appearance, in 2019.