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England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the final practice run before their third game against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

The Batter's Changed Position: From Opener to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their game, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, 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, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If England intend to keep him in this altered role he requires every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have seen one of each. In the first, he faced a few deliveries and scored a low score before holing out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played a dozen balls, hit runs, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Comeback and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he moved away of the team, had a short comeback in recently and then spent more than three years in the wilderness before returning for Harry Brook’s initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. Seems a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I was left out from England was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned something new to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he works out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” 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 small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the shortest in the sport. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their recent habit of revealing their team ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers landed in the city on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup means he will arrive later, flying with two fellow bowlers, 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 he will miss the opening game at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.