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The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to hold the last training session ahead of their third game against New Zealand indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by players who have already reached the pinnacle of their sport, 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 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 lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at fourth place. If England intend to retain him in this new position he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted nine balls and made a low score before getting out to long-on; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that period. I’ve learned a lot about me. The period after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given something new to work out. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to grasp it. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it gives me the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, England complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their recent habit of revealing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team here will be the identical as the one that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while four others come in. Three of those players arrived in the city on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Test match buildup implies he will arrive two days later, flying with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also building towards the Tests in Australia but are excluded from the limited-overs team. As a result he will miss the first match at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.