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The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the final training session before their next match against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests serve, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

The Batter's Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by players who have long since scaled the peak of their sport, in his situation it is undeniably true. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, coming in at five or six. “I didn't have too many conversations,” 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, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend to keep him in this altered role he requires every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and made a low score before getting out to long-on; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he moved away of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then spent a long period in the sidelines before coming back for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “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 happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about me. 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 working myself out.”

Support from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned something new to work out. Banton is thankful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it provides the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the manager 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, England finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an new location they have dropped their recent habit of revealing their team two days in advance while they determine if their ideal XI here will be the same as the side that started both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a slightly amended team: 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 timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are not in the limited-overs team. As a result he will be absent for the opening game at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.