Following on, batting to open the day (7)
I believe the answer is:
retinue
'following' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for retinue that I've seen before include "Attendants, followers" , "Band of attendants" , "Group around VIP" , "Group of followers" , "Body of attendants" .)