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The English side's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to hold the final practice run before their next match against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series 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 Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by athletes who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, primarily as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, batting at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, a further portion at third position and the rest – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend to keep him in this altered role he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it fails”, and the initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have seen one of each. In the opener, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

The current series has seen Banton come back to the country in which he first played for his country in late 2019. After that, he moved away of the side, made a brief return in recently and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned 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.”

Support from Team Management

And now, he has been assigned something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's skill to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it provides the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can go out and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their lineup ahead of time while they determine if their preferred team here will be the identical as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended 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 the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup means he will arrive two days later, flying with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will be absent for the first match at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.