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The English side's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were compelled to hold the last practice run before their third game against the Kiwis inside. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series serve, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

The Batter's New Role: 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 long since scaled the peak of their game, in his case it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar position, coming in at the middle order. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “I just got 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 over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at third position and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game eight years ago – at No 4. If England intend to keep him in this altered role he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

Banton said that “sometimes where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it doesn’t”, and the initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and scored nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he played 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

The current series has seen Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in recently and then spent a long period in the wilderness before coming back for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “During the journey, it was strange,” he said. “Time has passed when I made my debut. Seems a lot has happened in that period. I've discovered a lot about me. The few years after I got dropped from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year stretch where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned something new to work out. Banton is thankful 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. “The coach approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it provides the backing that if it doesn't work, 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 go out and do it.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the series at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue 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 shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their team ahead of time while they determine if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the one that began the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they travel to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: three players are omitted, while four others come in. Three of those players landed in Auckland on the same day but the timing of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive later, flying with two fellow bowlers, 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 stadium where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.