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The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were compelled to conduct the final practice run ahead of their third game against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what role these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: From Opener to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their game, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, primarily as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and told, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If England intend to retain him in this altered role he needs every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and other times where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have seen one of each. In the opener, he lasted nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton come back to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in recently and then spent a long period in the wilderness before returning for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed 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 England was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go 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 gives me the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

Following the first two games of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors finish the series on Thursday at Eden Park, a dual-purpose sports facility where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With changeable conditions and an new location they have abandoned their usual practice of announcing their lineup two days in advance while they determine if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the one that began the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

Next, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a slightly amended squad: three players drop out, while four others come in. Three of those players landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the timing of the bowler's Test match buildup means he will follow later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the Tests in Australia but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently Archer will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.