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The English side's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in February led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to conduct the final practice run ahead of their next match against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what role these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

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 regularly trotted out even by players who have already reached the pinnacle of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team 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 starting batsman, another 8% at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If the team plan to retain him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

The player noted that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the winter in New Zealand have featured one of each. In the opener, he faced nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Return and Development

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the nation 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 a long period in the wilderness before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that period. I’ve learned a lot about me. The period after I was left out from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was finding my way.”

Support from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful 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 came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ 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 come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

After playing the first two games of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, England finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the sport. With uncertain weather and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their lineup two days in advance while they work out if their ideal XI here will be the same as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Most newcomers arrived in the city on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will arrive later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, 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 first match at the venue, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.