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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 Wednesday to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to hold the last practice run before their next match against the Kiwis inside. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

The Batter's New Role: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by athletes who have long since scaled the peak of their game, in his situation it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, primarily as an starting player, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at the middle order. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and informed me, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If England intend to keep him in this altered role he needs every chance to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “sometimes where it works well and it looks great and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in New Zealand have seen both outcomes. In the first, he faced nine balls and scored nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Development

The current series has seen Banton come back to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he moved away of the side, had a short comeback in recently and then spent a long period in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “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 time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The period after I got dropped from England was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was finding my way.”

Support from Team Management

And now, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to put him at ease while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it provides the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, the visitors complete it on the next day at Eden Park, a multi-use sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the most compact in the world. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their recent habit of revealing their lineup ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed team: three players drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Three of those players landed in the city on Wednesday but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup means he will follow two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the longer format in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. As a result Archer will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.