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The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the final practice run ahead of their third game against the Kiwis inside. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's New Role: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated 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 now occupies a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and told, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If the team intend to keep him in this altered role he needs every chance to get used to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it looks great and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the second, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

This tour 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 side, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before returning for Harry Brook’s initial match as England captain. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. Seems a lot has happened in that period. I've discovered a lot about myself. The period after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years period where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's skill to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach approached 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 know it’s only a small thing someone says, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can go out and do it.’”

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, the visitors complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their team ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the one that started the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

On Friday, they travel to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Most newcomers landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations means 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 white-ball squad. As a result Archer will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.