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England's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on midweek to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to hold the last practice run ahead of their third game against New Zealand indoors. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line regularly trotted out even by athletes who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their game, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a frontline hitter, primarily as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, another 8% at third position and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If the team intend to keep him in this altered role he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have featured one of each. In the opener, he faced a few deliveries and scored nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in 2022 and then spent a long period in the sidelines before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as England captain. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has occurred in that period. I've discovered a lot about myself. The few years after I was left out from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to put him at ease while he works out how best to seize the opportunity. “The coach came up to 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 just a brief comment someone says, but it provides the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can go out and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

After playing the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, England complete it on the next day 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 recent habit of revealing their lineup ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI for this match will be the identical as the side that began both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for ODI Series

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: three players drop out, while four others come in. Three of those players arrived in the city on Wednesday but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations means he will arrive later, flying with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will miss the opening game at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.