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The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February led them on midweek to a chilly, rainy Auckland, where they were forced to conduct the last training session before their third game against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what role these bilateral series serve, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

The Batter's Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their game, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, 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, ‘You’re going to bat 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, a further portion at third position and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a domestic T20 game previously – at fourth place. If England intend to keep him in this new position he needs every chance to get used to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it looks great and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the winter in the host nation have seen one of each. In the opener, he faced nine balls and scored nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he played a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Return and Growth

The current series has witnessed Banton come back to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. Since then, he moved away of the team, had a short comeback in recently and then passed 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 strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. Seems a lot has happened in that period. I’ve learned 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 period where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given a fresh challenge to tackle. Banton is thankful 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 grasp it. “The coach approached me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the backing that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It is so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the manager and I can step up and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a stadium with expansive playing area, the visitors complete it on Thursday at Eden Park, a dual-purpose sports facility where the straight boundary at 55m is among the most compact in the sport. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their usual practice of announcing their team ahead of time while they determine if their preferred team here will be the same as the side that began the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

Next, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while four others come in. Most newcomers arrived in the city on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations means he will arrive two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also building towards the longer format in Australia but are not in the white-ball squad. Consequently he will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.