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England's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month led them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the last practice run before their third game against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this instance, 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 “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the peak of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a top-order batter, mostly as an starting player, Banton now occupies a totally new position, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and told, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at fourth place. If England intend to keep him in this altered role he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in New Zealand have seen one of each. In the first, he lasted nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

This tour has seen Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then spent more than three years in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned a lot about me. The few years after I was left out from England was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was finding my way.”

Support from Team Management

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing someone says, but it provides the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

Following the initial matches of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, England complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a multi-use sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the most compact in the world. With changeable conditions and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team here will be the identical as the one that began the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed squad: three players drop out, while four others join the squad. Three of those players arrived in the city on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will follow two days later, flying with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are not in the limited-overs team. As a result Archer will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.