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England's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led them on midweek to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the final practice run before their third game against the Kiwis inside. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

The Batter's Changed Position: 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 case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, batting at the middle order. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in June, 87% of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the rest – 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 altered role he needs every chance to get used to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he faced a few deliveries and scored nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and finished not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

The current series has witnessed Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, had a short comeback in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was strange,” 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 me. 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 Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's skill to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it provides the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not the end of the world. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can go out and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

Following the initial matches of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, 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 sport. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their lineup ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI here will be the identical as the side that began the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players arrived in the city on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup means he will arrive two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. As a result he 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.