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England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in February led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the last practice run before their third game against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

The Batter's Changed Position: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by athletes who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” 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 June, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at third position and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend to keep him in this new position he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “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 appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the initial matches of the tour in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the first, he faced nine balls and made a low score before holing out to long-on; in the second, he played a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Development

The current series has seen Banton come back to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in recently and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has happened in that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The period after I was left out from England was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was finding my way.”

Support from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know 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’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up 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, England complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their team ahead of time while they determine if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the one that began both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Most newcomers arrived in Auckland on Wednesday but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will follow two days later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will miss the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.