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England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in February brought them on midweek to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to hold the final practice run ahead of their next match against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's New Role: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in June, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If England intend to keep him in this new position he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

The player noted that “sometimes where it works well and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the first two games of the winter in the host nation have featured one of each. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, scored 29, and ended the innings not out.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

The current series 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 team, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been assigned something new to tackle. 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 seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can step up and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

After playing the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their usual practice 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 side that began both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others join the squad. Three of those players arrived in Auckland on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup implies he will follow later, flying with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently Archer will miss the first match at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.