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The English side's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month led them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to hold the final training session before their third game against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's New Role: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the peak of their sport, in his situation it is undeniably true. After building his name as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, coming in at five or six. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If the team plan to retain him in this new position he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

The player noted that “sometimes where it comes off and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in New Zealand have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and made a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, hit runs, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Return and Development

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he made his international debut in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, had a short comeback in recently and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has happened in that period. I've discovered a lot about myself. The few years after I was left out from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been assigned something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it provides the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can step up and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

After playing the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, England finish the series on Thursday at Eden Park, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their team ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI for this match will be the identical as the one that began both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: three players drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Most newcomers arrived in the city on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will follow later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result he will be absent for the opening game at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.