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The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month led them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the last practice run before their third game against New Zealand indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

The Batter's Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by players who have already reached the peak of their sport, in his case it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, 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 conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If England plan to keep him in this new position he requires every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

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 first two games of the tour in the host nation have seen one of each. In the opener, he faced a few deliveries and scored nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, scored 29, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Return and Development

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has happened in that period. I’ve learned a lot about me. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was finding my way.”

Support from Team Management

And now, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's ability to make him comfortable while he works out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it provides the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can go out and perform.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

After playing the first two games of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their team ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others come in. Three of those players landed in the city on Wednesday 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 building towards the longer format in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will miss the first match at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.