🔗 Share this article

The English side's preparations for a warm, arid T20 World Cup in India in February led them on Wednesday to a chilly, rainy New Zealand's largest city, where they were forced to hold the final practice run before their third game against New Zealand inside. It is not always obvious what role these two-team contests serve, 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 Changed Position: Starting Batsman to Lower Down

The cricketer says he is “still learning now”, and if it is the type of statement regularly trotted out even by players who have already reached the pinnacle of their sport, in his situation it is undeniably true. After forging his reputation as a top-order batter, primarily as an opener, Banton now occupies a completely unfamiliar position, batting at the middle order. “I didn't have too many conversations,” he said. “They simply brought me back into the squad and told, ‘You’re going to bat in the middle order now.’”

Before his recall in the summer, 87% of Banton’s over 160 senior T20 innings had been as an starting batsman, another 8% at third position and the rest – but for a brief stint at No 7 in a T20 Blast game previously – at No 4. If the team intend to retain him in this new position he needs every chance to become accustomed to it, and he has figured out one thing: “Batting in the middle order,” he surmised, “is a much tougher than opening.”

Mixed Results in New Zealand

The player noted that “sometimes where it works well and it looks great and other times where it fails”, and the initial matches of the winter in New Zealand have seen one of each. In the opener, he faced nine balls and scored a low score before holing out to long-on; in the next game, he faced a dozen balls, hit runs, and ended the innings unbeaten.

Thoughts on Comeback and Growth

The current series has seen Banton come back to the nation in which he first played for his country in late 2019. After that, he drifted back out of the side, made a brief return in 2022 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. “It was six years ago when I made my debut. It feels like a lot has happened in that period. I’ve learned a lot about me. The few years after I got dropped from the national team was a tough time for me. I had a two- to three-year period where I was finding my way.”

Support from Coaching Staff

And now, he has been given something new to tackle. Banton is grateful to have been offered a return, and also for the coach's skill to make him comfortable while he figures out how best to grasp it. “Baz came up to me before [the recent game] and said, ‘Head out and play your natural game.’ It's reassuring to have that freedom,” 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 go out and perform.’”

Venue Change and Squad Decisions

Following the initial matches of the contest at Christchurch’s Hagley Park, a venue with expansive playing area, the visitors complete it on Thursday at Eden Park, a multi-use rugby and cricket ground 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 team ahead of time while they determine if their preferred team here will be the identical as the one that started the earlier fixtures.

Upcoming Changes for One-Day Matches

On Friday, they move to Mount Maunganui and shift attention to ODIs, with a slightly amended squad: three players drop out, while four others come in. Three of those players landed in the city on the same day but the timing of the bowler's Ashes preparations means 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. As a result Archer will be absent for the first match at Bay Oval, the stadium where he was racially abused on his only previous appearance, in a few years back.