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The English side's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the last training session ahead of their next match against the Kiwis inside. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

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

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by players who have already reached the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an starting player, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, batting at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” 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 the summer, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at third position and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at fourth place. If the team plan to keep him in this altered role he needs every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

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 first two games of the tour in New Zealand have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and scored a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Return and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton come back to the nation 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 passed 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. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has occurred in that period. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The period after I got dropped from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given something new to work out. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's skill to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing someone says, but it gives me 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 approval from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the initial matches of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the world. 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 for this match will be the same as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

Next, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while four others join the squad. Three of those players landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will follow two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the Tests in Australia but are not in the limited-overs team. Consequently he will miss the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.