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England's preparations for a warm, arid 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 compelled to conduct the final training session before their third game against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what role these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

The Batter'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 already reached the peak of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a top-order batter, primarily as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings 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 fourth place. If England plan to retain him in this altered role he requires every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it looks great and other times where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have seen one of each. In the first, he faced nine balls and scored nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the second, he played 12 deliveries, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton return 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 more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has happened in that time. I’ve learned a lot about me. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to grasp it. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it provides 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 approval from the head coach and I can go out and perform.’”

Shift in Location 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 the next day at the Auckland arena, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their usual practice of announcing their lineup ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others join the squad. Three of those players landed in Auckland on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will follow later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the longer format in the away series but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will be absent for the opening game at Bay Oval, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.