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The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in February brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the final practice run ahead of their next match against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what purpose these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

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

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their game, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, primarily as an starting player, Banton now occupies a totally new position, coming in at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and told, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in June, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If the team plan to keep him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it works well 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 lasted a few deliveries and scored a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, scored 29, and ended the innings not out.

Thoughts on Return and Development

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in recently and then spent more than three years in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has happened in that period. I’ve learned a lot about me. The few years after I was left out from England was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. 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 first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the identical as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a slightly amended squad: three players drop out, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers arrived in Auckland on Wednesday but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup means he will follow two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in Australia but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently Archer will miss the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.