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England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to hold the last practice run before their third game against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests serve, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

The Batter's Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their game, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, batting at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at No3 and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If England intend to keep him in this new position he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “sometimes where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

The current series has witnessed Banton come back to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in recently and then passed a long period in the wilderness before returning for Harry Brook’s initial match as skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I’ve learned a lot about me. The period 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.”

Support from Team Management

And now, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach 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 just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me 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 perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

After playing the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, England finish the series on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their lineup ahead of time while they determine if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the side that began both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: three players drop out, while four others join the squad. Three of those players arrived in Auckland on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will arrive two days later, flying with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also preparing for the Tests in Australia but are not in the limited-overs team. Consequently he will miss the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.