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The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to hold the final practice run before their third game against the Kiwis inside. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests serve, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out 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 frontline hitter, primarily as an starting player, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar 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 middle order now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at third position and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If England plan to keep him in this altered role he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the 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 appears brilliant and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have seen one of each. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

This tour has seen Banton return to the nation in which he made his international debut in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then passed a long period in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s first T20 as skipper. “On the flight over, 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 me. The period after I got dropped from England was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to grasp it. “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 realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it provides 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, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can go out and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the sport. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their lineup two days in advance while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the side that began the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed squad: 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 the city on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will follow two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently he 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.