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England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to hold 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 occasion, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by players who have already reached the pinnacle of their game, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at five or six. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “I just got 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 opener, a further portion at third position and the rest – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If the team plan to keep him in this altered role he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances 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 fails”, and the initial matches of the tour in the host nation have seen one of each. In the opener, he lasted nine balls and scored a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished not out.

Reflections on Return and Development

The current series has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he made his international debut in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in recently and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I've discovered a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been assigned something new to work out. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it gives me the backing 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 backing from the manager and I can step up and perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, England complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the straight boundary at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their recent habit of revealing their team two days in advance while they determine if their ideal XI here will be the same as the one that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: three players are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Most newcomers landed in the city on Wednesday but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup implies he will follow two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are not in the limited-overs team. Consequently he will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.