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The English side's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in February led them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the last practice run ahead of their third game against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

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

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, batting at the middle order. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at third position and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If England intend to keep him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it looks great and other times where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the winter in the host nation have seen one of each. In the opener, he faced nine balls and made a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Return and Development

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, had a short comeback in 2022 and then spent a long period in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” 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 was left out from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been given something new to work out. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's skill to make him comfortable 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 liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing 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, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

After playing the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on Thursday at Eden Park, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their team two days in advance while they determine if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the side that started both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they travel to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: 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 Test match buildup implies he will follow later, flying with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently he will miss the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.