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The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in the coming month led them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the last training session ahead of their third game against the Kiwis inside. The purpose isn't always clear what role these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

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

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the peak of their game, in his case it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, coming in at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 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 seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at No 4. If the team intend to retain him in this altered role he requires every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said 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 winter in New Zealand have seen both outcomes. In the opener, he lasted nine balls and scored nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

This tour has witnessed Banton come back to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he moved away of the team, made a brief return in recently and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before returning for Harry Brook’s first T20 as skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned a lot about me. The few years after I was left out from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Team Management

And now, he has been given something new to work out. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing from the staff, 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, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can go out and do it.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

Following the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, England finish the series on Thursday at Eden Park, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the sport. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of revealing their lineup two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the identical as the side that started both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

On Friday, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: three players are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will follow two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will miss the opening game at the venue, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.