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The English side's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month led them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the last practice run before their third game against New Zealand indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's New Role: From Opener to Lower Down

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by athletes who have long since scaled the peak of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, batting at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and told, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend to keep him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it looks great and other times where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Development

This tour has seen Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. After that, he moved away of the side, had a short comeback in recently and then spent a long period in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. Seems a lot has occurred in that period. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped from England was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it provides the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can go out and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

After playing the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the most compact in the sport. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their usual practice of revealing their team two days in advance while they determine if their preferred team here will be the identical as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: three players are omitted, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers arrived in the city on Wednesday but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will arrive later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are not in the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will miss the opening game at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.