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The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month 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 next match against the Kiwis inside. It is not always obvious what purpose these two-team contests fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's New Role: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their game, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a totally new position, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in June, 87% of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings 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 domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If England plan to retain him in this altered role he requires every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it looks great and other times where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in New Zealand have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he lasted nine balls and made a low score before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Return and Development

This tour has witnessed Banton come back to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he moved away of the team, had a short comeback in recently and then spent more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. 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 difficult phase 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 assigned a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment from the staff, 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 approval from the manager and I can go out and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

Following the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, England finish the series on the next day at Eden Park, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of revealing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team here will be the identical as the side that started both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

Next, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: three players are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players arrived in Auckland on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations means he will arrive later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the longer format in the away series but are not in the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will be absent for the opening game at Bay Oval, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.