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The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month led them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to conduct the final training session before their next match against the Kiwis indoors. It is not always obvious what purpose these two-team contests serve, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this occasion, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

The Batter's Changed Position: 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 undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new position, batting at the middle order. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the team and told, ‘Your role will be in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for a brief stint at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game eight years ago – at fourth place. If the team plan to keep him in this altered role he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Varied Performances in New Zealand

The player noted that “sometimes where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the winter in New Zealand have seen one of each. In the first, he faced a few deliveries and scored a low score before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he played 12 deliveries, scored 29, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Return and Development

This tour has seen Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then passed a long period in the sidelines before returning for the new captain's initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was weird,” 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 period after I was left out from England was a tough time for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was finding my way.”

Backing from Team Management

And now, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for Brendon McCullum’s skill to put him at ease while he figures out how best to grasp it. “The coach approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Go out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing from the staff, but it provides the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the initial matches of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with unusually long boundaries, the visitors complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a dual-purpose sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the most compact in the sport. With uncertain weather and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their recent habit of revealing their lineup ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI here will be the same as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

Next, they move to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt are omitted, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Three of those players landed in the city on Wednesday but the timing of Archer’s Test match buildup means he will arrive two days later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also building towards the Tests in the away series but are not in the white-ball squad. As a result Archer will be absent for the opening game at the venue, the stadium where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.