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England's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in February brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were compelled to hold the last practice run before their next match against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what role 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 Lower Down

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 case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton now occupies a totally new position, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “I just got 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, another 8% at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If the team plan to keep him in this new position he requires every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the winter in the host nation have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he faced nine balls and scored nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Return and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the team, had a short comeback 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 weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has happened in that period. I've discovered a lot about me. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been assigned something new to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to grasp it. “Baz approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, England finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the straight boundary at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their lineup 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.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they travel to the coastal town and turn focus to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, 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 scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also building towards the longer format in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. As a result Archer will be absent for the opening game at Bay Oval, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in 2019.