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The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in February led them on midweek to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to hold the last training session before their third game against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these two-team contests serve, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by athletes who have already reached the peak of their sport, in his situation it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, coming in at five or six. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a domestic T20 game previously – at No 4. If England intend to retain him in this new position he needs every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

The player noted that “sometimes where it works well and it appears brilliant and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have seen one of each. In the opener, he faced nine balls and scored a low score before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

The current series has witnessed Banton come back to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before returning for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that period. I've discovered a lot about me. The period after I was left out from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years period where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Team Management

And now, he has been given something new to work out. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn't work, 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 go out and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

After playing the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, England finish the series on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the most compact in the world. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of revealing their lineup ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the side that began both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others join the squad. Three of those players arrived in Auckland on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Test match buildup implies he will follow later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also building towards the Tests in Australia but are not in the limited-overs team. As a result Archer will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.