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The English side's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the last training session before their next match against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

Tom Banton's New Role: From Opener to Lower Down

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 case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an starting player, Banton now occupies a totally new role, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If England plan to keep him in this new position he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

The player noted that “sometimes where it comes off and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the winter in New Zealand have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, scored 29, and ended the innings not out.

Thoughts on Comeback and Growth

The current series has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he made his international debut in November 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 returning for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. Seems a lot has occurred in that period. I’ve learned a lot about me. The few years after I got dropped from England was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years period where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Team Management

And now, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to put him at ease while he works out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go 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 gives me the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can step up and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

Following the initial matches of the series at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the shortest in the sport. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of revealing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team here will be the same as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed squad: three players are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players arrived in the city on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will arrive later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are not in the limited-overs team. As a result he will miss the first match at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.