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England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the last practice run ahead of their third game against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious 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 not an issue.

Tom Banton's Changed Position: From Opener to Middle Order

Tom Banton 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 forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an starting player, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend to retain him in this new position he needs every chance to get used to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he faced a few deliveries and scored a low score before getting out to long-on; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he moved away of the team, made a brief return in recently and then spent a long period in the wilderness before returning for Harry Brook’s initial match as skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I’ve learned a lot about me. The period after I was left out from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's ability to put him at ease while he works out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it gives me the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, England complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their lineup two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team here will be the same as the side that began the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while four others come in. Most newcomers landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the timing of Archer’s Test match buildup implies he will follow two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in the away series but are not in the limited-overs team. As a result Archer will miss the first match at the venue, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.