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England'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 hold the final practice run before their next match against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this instance, 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 “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the peak of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After building his name as a top-order batter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, batting at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If the team plan to retain him in this new position he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

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 tour in the host nation have seen one of each. In the first, he faced a few deliveries and scored nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Development

This tour has seen Banton come back to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he moved away of the team, had a short comeback in recently and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before returning for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. Seems a lot has happened in that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The few years after I was left out from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Support from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. 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 grasp it. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it provides the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can go out and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

After playing the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a multi-use sports facility where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an new location they have dropped their recent habit of revealing their lineup ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others come in. Most newcomers landed in the city on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Test match buildup implies he will arrive two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.