🔗 Share this article

The English side's preparations for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in India in the coming month brought them on midweek to a cool, drizzly New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the last practice run ahead of their next match against New Zealand indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be gained – but on this instance, for at least one of the players, that is not an issue.

The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Middle Order

The cricketer says he is “continuing to develop”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by athletes who have long since scaled the peak of their game, in his case it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, primarily as an opener, Banton now occupies 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, 87% of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an opener, another 8% at third position and the rest – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game previously – at No 4. If the team intend to keep him in this altered role he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a lot harder than opening.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

The player noted that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it looks great and on other occasions where it fails”, and the initial matches of the tour in New Zealand have featured both outcomes. In the first, he lasted nine balls and made nine runs before holing out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and ended the innings not out.

Reflections on Return and Growth

This tour has seen Banton return to the country in which he made his international debut in November 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in recently and then spent a long period in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's first T20 as England captain. “During the journey, it was weird,” he said. “Time has passed when I started internationally. Seems a lot has occurred in that period. I've discovered a lot about me. The period after I was left out from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Coaching Staff

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 skill to put him at ease while he works 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 freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment from the staff, but it gives me the support that if it doesn’t come off, it’s not a disaster. It is so small but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’ve got the approval from the head coach and I can go out 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, England finish the series on the next day at Eden Park, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the shortest in the world. With changeable conditions and an unfamiliar venue they have dropped their recent habit of revealing their team ahead of time while they work out if their preferred team here will be the same as the one that started the earlier fixtures.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

Next, they move to the coastal town and shift attention to one-day internationals, with a somewhat changed team: Jordan Cox, Zak Crawley and Phil Salt drop out, while Jofra Archer, Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Jamie Smith join the squad. Most newcomers landed in Auckland 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 the away series but are excluded from the white-ball squad. Consequently he will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the ground where he was racially abused on his sole prior visit, in 2019.