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England's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in the coming month led them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly Auckland, where they were forced to hold the final training session ahead of their third game against the Kiwis inside. The purpose isn't always clear what role these bilateral series serve, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is no concern.

The Batter's Changed Position: From Opener to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the kind of line often repeated even by athletes who have already reached the pinnacle of their sport, in his case it is certainly accurate. After building his name as a top-order batter, primarily as an starting player, Banton now occupies 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.’”

Before his recall in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at No 7 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 figured out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in the Tour

Banton said that “sometimes where it works well and it looks great and other times where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the tour in New Zealand have featured both outcomes. In the opener, he lasted a few deliveries and scored nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Return and Development

This tour has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in recently and then passed more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as skipper. “On the flight over, it was weird,” he said. “It was six years ago when I started internationally. It feels like a lot has occurred in that time. I’ve learned a lot about myself. The period 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 Team Management

Currently, he has been given a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's skill 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, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize 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 backing from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

Following the initial matches of the contest at the South Island ground, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, the visitors finish the series on Thursday at Eden Park, a dual-purpose sports facility where the straight boundary at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an new location they have abandoned their usual practice of announcing their lineup ahead of time while they determine if their preferred team here will be the identical as the one that started the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

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 join the squad. Most newcomers landed in the city on Wednesday but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations implies he will arrive two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the Tests in the away series but are not in the limited-overs team. As a result he will miss the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.