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The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in February led them on midweek to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the final training session ahead of their third game against New Zealand inside. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be learned – but on this instance, 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 “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by athletes who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, primarily as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the team and told, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Before his recall in June, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend to retain him in this altered role he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the tour in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and scored a low score before getting out to long-on; in the next game, he played a dozen balls, hit runs, and finished not out.

Reflections on Comeback and Growth

The current series has seen Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he moved away of the team, made a brief return in 2022 and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for the new captain's initial match as skipper. “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 time. I’ve learned a lot about me. The few years after I was left out from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Team Management

And now, he has been assigned a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for Brendon McCullum’s ability to put him at ease while he figures out how best to seize the opportunity. “Baz approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not a disaster. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the approval from the manager and I can go out and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

Following the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with expansive playing area, England finish the series on the next day at Eden Park, a dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the sport. With uncertain weather and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of revealing their lineup two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the one that started the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

Next, they move to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while four others join the squad. Three of those players arrived in Auckland on the same day but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will arrive later, flying with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently Archer will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.