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The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to hold the last practice run ahead of their next match against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

Tom Banton's New Role: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

Tom Banton says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by players who have already reached the pinnacle of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, mostly as an starting player, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, batting at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in June, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at fourth place. If England plan to keep him in this altered role he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it fails”, and the initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have featured one of each. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, hit runs, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Comeback and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then spent a long period in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. Seems 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 difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful 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. “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 only a small thing from the staff, 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, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

Following the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, England finish the series on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the most compact in the sport. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their lineup ahead of time while they work out if their preferred team here will be the identical as the side that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: three players are omitted, while four others join the squad. Three of those players arrived in Auckland on Wednesday but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will arrive later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, 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 miss the first match at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.