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England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in February led them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the final practice run before their third game against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests 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 New Role: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by players who have already reached the peak of their game, in his case it is undeniably true. After building his name as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a totally new role, batting at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at third position and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If the team plan 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 surmised, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

The player noted that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he played a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

The current series has seen Banton return to the nation in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the side, had a short comeback in recently and then spent more than three years in the wilderness before returning for Harry Brook’s initial match 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 happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about myself. The period after I was left out from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was finding my way.”

Support from Team Management

And now, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing 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 minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can go out and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

After playing the first two games of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, England finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their lineup two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the one that started both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed team: three players are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the scheduling of the bowler's Test match buildup means he will follow later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will be absent for the opening game at Bay Oval, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.