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England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to hold the final practice run ahead of their third game against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

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

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their sport, in his case it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a top-order batter, mostly as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the rest – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at fourth place. If the team intend to retain him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

The player noted that “sometimes where it comes off and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the tour in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

The current series has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then spent a long period in the sidelines before coming back for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned a lot about me. The period after I got dropped from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was finding my way.”

Support from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

After playing the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, England finish the series on the next day 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 unfamiliar venue they have dropped their usual practice of revealing their team two days in advance while they determine if their preferred team for this match will be the identical as the one that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers arrived in Auckland on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will arrive two days later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently he will miss the first match at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.