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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 midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to hold the last training session before their third game 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 occasion, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

The Batter's Changed Position: From Opener to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by athletes who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar position, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at No 4. If England plan to retain him in this new position he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it looks great and other times where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and made a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

This tour has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, had a short comeback in recently and then passed a long period in the wilderness before returning for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has happened in that time. I've discovered a lot about me. The few years 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 Team Management

And now, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's ability to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach 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 realize it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it provides the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can go out and perform.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

After playing the first two games of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their team ahead of time while they determine if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the side that began the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: three players are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Most newcomers landed in Auckland on Wednesday but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive two days later, flying with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently Archer will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.