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The English side's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to hold the last practice run before their next match against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series serve, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, 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 players who have already reached the peak of their game, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a totally new role, batting at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and told, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, another 8% at No3 and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If England plan to keep him in this altered role he requires every chance to get used to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the first, he lasted nine balls and scored nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played a dozen balls, hit runs, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

The current series has witnessed Banton return to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, had a short comeback in recently and then passed a long period in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “On the flight over, 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 got dropped from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's ability to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can step up and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the initial matches of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, England complete it on Thursday at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at 55m is among the most compact in the sport. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their team ahead of time while they work out if their ideal XI for this match will be the identical as the one that began both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: three players drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Three of those players arrived in the city on Wednesday but the timing of the bowler's Test match buildup means he will follow later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. As a result he will be absent for the first match at the venue, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in 2019.