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England's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in February brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to hold the last practice run ahead of their third game against the Kiwis inside. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests serve, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, 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 kind of line often repeated even by athletes who have already reached the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, primarily as an opener, Banton now occupies a totally new role, batting at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If the team intend to keep him in this new position he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in New Zealand have seen both outcomes. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Return and Growth

This tour has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, had a short comeback in 2022 and then passed a long period in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “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 period. 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 two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”

Support from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned something new to tackle. Banton is thankful 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. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing 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 head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, England finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their recent habit of revealing their team ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI for this match will be the identical as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a slightly amended team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others join the squad. Three of those players landed in the city on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will follow two days 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 limited-overs team. Consequently he will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.