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The English side's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on midweek to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to hold the final training session before their third game against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what role these bilateral series serve, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

The Batter's Changed Position: From Opener 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 undeniably true. After building his name as a frontline hitter, mostly as an starting player, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at the middle order. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and told, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If the team plan to retain him in this new position he needs every chance to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results 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 first two games of the winter in the host nation have featured one of each. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and made a low score before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

The current series has seen Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in recently and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before returning for Harry Brook’s initial match as skipper. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. Seems a lot has occurred in that time. I've discovered a lot about myself. The period after I was left out from England was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it provides the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and do it.’”

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, the visitors finish the series on Thursday at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of announcing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team here will be the identical as the one that started the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

Next, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: three players are omitted, while four others join the squad. Three of those players arrived in the city on Wednesday but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations means he will follow later, flying with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in the away series but are not in the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the stadium where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.