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England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in February led them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to hold the last training session ahead of their third game against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

The Batter's New Role: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their game, in his situation it is undeniably true. After building his name as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a totally new role, coming in at the middle order. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order 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 remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a domestic T20 game previously – at No 4. If the team intend to keep him in this new position he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in New Zealand have featured both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and scored nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the second, he played 12 deliveries, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Growth

The current series has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he moved away of the team, had a short comeback in recently and then passed a long period in the sidelines before returning for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. Seems a lot has occurred in that period. I've discovered a lot about me. The period after I was left out from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was finding my way.”

Support from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach 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 realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it provides the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can go out and do it.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

Following the initial matches of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, England complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their usual practice of revealing their team ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI here will be the same as the one that started both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

Next, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players arrived in Auckland on Wednesday but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will follow two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also building towards the longer format in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently he will miss the opening game at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.