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England's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to conduct the last training session ahead of their third game against the Kiwis inside. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these two-team contests serve, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

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 game, in his case 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 role, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in June, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at third position and the rest – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend to keep him in this new position he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it appears brilliant and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the tour in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and scored a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he moved away of the side, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before returning for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about me. The few years after I was left out from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's skill to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz approached 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 know it’s only a small thing someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can go out and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the initial matches of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on Thursday at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the most compact in the sport. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their lineup 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.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Most newcomers arrived in the city on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will arrive two days later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are not in the limited-overs team. Consequently Archer will be absent for the opening game at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.