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England's training sessions for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in February brought them on Wednesday to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the final training session ahead of their third game against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what purpose 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 Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have long since scaled the pinnacle of their game, in his situation it is undeniably true. After building his name as a top-order batter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a totally new role, coming in at five or six. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and told, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in the summer, the vast majority of Banton’s over 160 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position 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 altered role he requires every possible opportunity to get used to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Mixed Results 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 winter in New Zealand have featured one of each. In the first, he lasted nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, scored 29, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Return and Growth

This tour has witnessed Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in late 2019. Since then, he moved away of the side, made a brief return in 2022 and then spent a long period in the wilderness before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as England captain. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. 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 difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was finding my way.”

Support from Team Management

And now, he has been given something new to work out. Banton is thankful 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 seize the opportunity. “The coach approached me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know 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 minor but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can step up and perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the series at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, England finish the series on Thursday at Eden Park, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have abandoned their usual practice of announcing their lineup two days in advance while they determine if their preferred team here will be the same as the side that started the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to Mount Maunganui and turn focus to ODIs, with a slightly amended squad: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith come in. Three of those players landed in the city on Wednesday but the scheduling of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will arrive two days later, flying with two fellow bowlers, fast bowlers who are also building towards the Tests in Australia but are not in the white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in 2019.