🔗 Share this article

England'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 final training session ahead of 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 instance, for at least one of the players, that is no concern.

The Batter's New Role: From Opener to Lower Down

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement often repeated even by players who have long since scaled the peak of their game, in his situation it is undeniably true. After building his name as a frontline hitter, mostly as an starting player, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many conversations,” he said. “They simply 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 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for seven balls at seventh spot in a domestic T20 game previously – at No 4. If England plan to retain him in this altered role he needs every possible opportunity 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 New Zealand

The player noted that “sometimes where it comes off and it appears brilliant and other times where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in the host nation have seen one of each. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before getting out to the deep fielder; in the next game, he faced 12 deliveries, scored 29, and finished unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Growth

The current series has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he made his international debut in November 2019. Since then, he moved away of the team, made a brief return in recently and then spent more than three years in the sidelines before coming back for Harry Brook’s initial match as skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” he said. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. Seems a lot has happened in that period. I’ve learned a lot about me. The few years after I got dropped from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years period where I was finding my way.”

Support from Coaching Staff

Currently, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is grateful 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 grasp it. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Go out and express yourself.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I know it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the support 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 approval from the head coach and I can go out and do it.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

After playing the initial matches of the series at the South Island ground, a stadium with unusually long boundaries, England complete it on Thursday at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the field edge at a short distance is among the shortest in the world. With uncertain weather and an new location they have abandoned their recent habit of announcing their team two days in advance while they work out if their preferred team for this match will be the same as the side that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

Next, they travel to the coastal town and shift attention to ODIs, with a slightly amended team: 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 arrived in Auckland on the same day but the scheduling of Archer’s Ashes preparations means he will follow later, travelling with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, fast bowlers who are also preparing for the longer format in the away series but are excluded from the limited-overs team. Consequently Archer will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.