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The English side's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led 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 New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these two-team contests fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

The Batter's New Role: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their game, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, primarily as an starting player, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar role, batting at the middle order. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, 87% of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, another 8% at third position and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a domestic T20 game previously – at No 4. If the team intend to keep him in this new position he needs every chance to get used to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

The current series has seen 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, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. Seems a lot has occurred in that time. I've discovered a lot about myself. The few years after I got dropped from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years period where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize 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 is so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can go out and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

After playing the first two games of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with unusually long boundaries, England complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their team two days in advance while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the same as the side that started both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players arrived in Auckland on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Test match buildup implies he will follow two days later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently he will miss the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.