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The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the final training session before their third game against the Kiwis indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these two-team contests serve, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, 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 “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the peak of their sport, in his case it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton now occupies a totally new role, batting at five or six. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in June, 87% of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If England intend to keep him in this altered role he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “sometimes where it works well and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the first two games of the winter in New Zealand have featured one of each. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and scored a low score before holing out to long-on; in the second, he played a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings not out.

Thoughts on Comeback and Development

This tour has witnessed Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. After that, he moved away of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. Seems a lot has happened in that period. I've discovered a lot about me. The period after I was left out from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Support from Team Management

And now, he has been assigned something new to tackle. Banton is grateful 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 [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment 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 small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, England finish the series on Thursday at Eden Park, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the most compact in the world. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the side that began both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Most newcomers landed in the city on Wednesday but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup implies he will follow later, travelling with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also preparing for the longer format in the away series but are not in the limited-overs team. Consequently Archer will miss the opening game at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.