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The English side's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in February brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the final practice run ahead of their third game against New Zealand inside. 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 not an issue.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have already reached the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, primarily as an starting player, Banton now occupies a totally new role, batting at five or six. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If England plan 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 New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it looks great and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the tour in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and made a low score before getting out to long-on; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Return and Development

This tour has witnessed Banton come back to the nation in which he made his international debut in late 2019. After that, he moved away of the team, had a short comeback in recently and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before returning for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. Seems a lot has occurred in that period. I've discovered a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful 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 came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at 55m is among the most compact in the sport. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of revealing their team ahead of time while they work out if their preferred team here will be the same as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and shift attention 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 landed in the city on Wednesday but the scheduling of the bowler's Test match buildup means he will arrive later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in the away series but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will miss the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.