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The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month led them on midweek to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the last practice run ahead of their third game against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these two-team contests fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

The Batter's New Role: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated 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 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 squad and told, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Prior to returning in June, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the rest – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game previously – at No 4. If the team plan to retain him in this new position he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have featured one of each. In the first, he faced nine balls and scored nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

This tour has seen Banton come back to the country in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he moved away of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. Seems a lot has occurred in that time. 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 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 Brendon McCullum’s ability to put him at ease while he works out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know 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 minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can step up and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on Thursday at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the most compact 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 here will be the same as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended team: three players are omitted, while four others come in. Most newcomers landed in Auckland on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive two days later, flying with two fellow bowlers, two seamers who are also building towards the longer format in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently he will be absent for the opening game at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.