🔗 Share this article

The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in February brought them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the last practice run before their next match against the Kiwis inside. It is not always obvious what purpose these bilateral series fulfill, what useful lessons could possibly be gained – 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 often repeated even by players who have already reached the peak of their sport, in his situation it is certainly accurate. After forging his reputation as a frontline hitter, mostly as an opener, Banton suddenly finds himself a completely unfamiliar role, batting at the middle order. “I didn't have too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and informed me, ‘You’re going to bat in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, a further portion at No3 and the remaining handful – but for seven balls at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If England plan to retain him in this altered role he requires every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out one thing: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it works well and it appears brilliant and on other occasions where it fails”, and the first two games of the winter in the host nation have seen both outcomes. In the first, he lasted a few deliveries and made nine runs before getting out to long-on; in the second, he faced a dozen balls, hit runs, and finished not out.

Thoughts on Return and Development

The current series has seen Banton return to the country in which he first played for his country in November 2019. After that, he moved away of the team, had a short comeback in recently and then spent a long period in the wilderness before returning for the new captain's first T20 as skipper. “On the flight over, it was strange,” 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 few years after I got dropped from England was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years period where I was working myself out.”

Support from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given a fresh challenge to work out. Banton is grateful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's skill to put him at ease while he works out how best to grasp it. “Baz came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It’s nice to have that liberty,” Banton said. “I realize it’s only a small thing someone says, but it provides the support that if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world. It’s something so small but for me it’s, ‘Alright, I’ve got the backing from the head coach and I can go out and perform.’”

Venue Change and Team Selection

Following the first two games of the contest at the South Island ground, a venue with expansive playing area, the visitors finish the series on the next day at the Auckland arena, a multi-use sports facility where the straight boundary 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 determine if their preferred team here will be the same as the one that started both previous games.

Squad Adjustments for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a somewhat changed squad: three players are omitted, while four others join the squad. Three of those players landed in Auckland on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations implies he will follow two days later, flying with Mark Wood and Josh Tongue, two seamers who are also preparing for the longer format in Australia but are not in the limited-overs team. As a result he will be absent for the first match at the venue, the ground where he was subjected to abuse on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.