🔗 Share this article

The English side's training sessions for a hot, dry T20 World Cup in the subcontinent in the coming month brought them on midweek to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were compelled to conduct the last training session ahead of their third game against New Zealand indoors. The purpose isn't always clear what purpose these two-team contests fulfill, what valuable insights could possibly be learned – but on this instance, for at least a squad member, that is not an issue.

The Batter's New Role: Starting Batsman 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 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 now occupies a completely unfamiliar role, coming in at the middle order. “There weren’t really too many discussions,” he said. “I just got brought me back into the squad and told, ‘Your role will be in the lower batting lineup now.’”

Prior to returning in June, the vast majority of Banton’s 162 professional T20 appearances had been as an opener, a further portion at No3 and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at fourth place. If England intend to keep him in this new position he needs every possible opportunity to become accustomed to it, and he has already worked out a key point: “Playing down the order,” he concluded, “is a much tougher than starting the innings.”

Mixed Results in the Tour

Banton said that “there’s going to be times where it comes off and it looks great and on other occasions where it doesn’t”, and the first two games of the winter in New Zealand have featured both outcomes. In the first, he faced nine balls and made a low score before holing out to the deep fielder; in the second, he faced 12 deliveries, hit runs, and finished unbeaten.

Reflections on Comeback and Development

The current series has seen Banton return to the nation in which he made his international debut in late 2019. Since then, he drifted back out of the team, made a brief return in recently and then spent a long period in the sidelines before returning for Harry Brook’s first T20 as skipper. “On the flight over, it was weird,” 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 myself. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a difficult phase for me. I had a couple of years stretch where I was working myself out.”

Backing from Team Management

Currently, he has been assigned something new to tackle. Banton is thankful to have been given another chance, and also for the coach's ability to make him comfortable while he works out how best to grasp it. “The coach came up to me before [Monday’s second T20] and said, ‘Head out and express yourself.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” Banton said. “I realize it’s just a brief comment someone says, but it gives me the support that if it doesn’t come off, 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 step up and perform.’”

Shift in Location and Squad Decisions

After playing 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 dual-purpose rugby and cricket ground where the field edge at 55m is among the most compact in the world. With changeable conditions and an new location they have dropped their usual practice of revealing their team ahead of time while they determine if their ideal XI for this match will be the same as the one that began both previous games.

Upcoming Changes for ODI Series

Next, they move to the coastal town and turn focus to ODIs, with a slightly amended team: three players drop out, while four others join the squad. Most newcomers landed in the city on Wednesday but the scheduling of Archer’s Test match buildup 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 white-ball squad. Consequently Archer will be absent for the opening game at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was subjected to abuse on his sole prior visit, in a few years back.