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The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in the coming month led them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the last practice run before their third game against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

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

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have already reached the peak of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a top-order batter, primarily as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, coming in at the middle order. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “They simply 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 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at No3 and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If England plan to keep him in this altered role he requires every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it looks great and other times where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have featured one of each. In the first, he faced nine balls and made a low score before getting out to long-on; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings not out.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton come back to the country 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 spent more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that period. I've discovered a lot about myself. The period after I was left out from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year period 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 skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the support 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, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can go out and perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on the next day at the Auckland arena, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at a short distance is among the most compact in the world. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their lineup ahead of time while they determine if their preferred team here will be the same as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

Next, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: three players are omitted, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers landed in the city on Wednesday but the timing of the bowler's Test match buildup implies he will follow later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the longer format in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently he will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.