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England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in February led them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the final practice run ahead of their next match against New Zealand 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.

The Batter's New Role: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their sport, in his situation it is undeniably true. 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 the middle order. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend to keep him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have featured one of each. In the opener, he faced nine balls and made a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

This tour has seen Banton come back to the country in which he first played for his country in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then spent a long period in the wilderness before coming back for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago 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 the national team was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's ability to put him at ease while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it provides the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

After playing the first two games of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, the visitors finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the sport. With changeable conditions and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of revealing their team ahead of time while they determine if their preferred team for this match will be the identical as the side that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Most newcomers landed 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, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are not in the limited-overs team. As a result he will be absent for the opening game at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.