The new England white-ball captain Jos Buttler is looking forward to leading the side into a new era. The most valuable player of the IPL 2022 said the team will look to focus on the results while keeping an eye on the future.
England cricket is quite on a roll as their Test side pulled off four incredible victories in the last month to send the fans in a frenzy. They defeated New Zealand and India with an aggressive brand of cricket. Now their white-ball side is set to continue that as they take on India in three T20Is and three ODIs.
Buttler begins his reign on July 7 as England’s white-ball captain following Eoin Morgan’s retirement from international cricket. They have 12 games lined up in the next month, with three ODIs and three T20Is against South Africa immediately after the India series.
Speaking ahead of the series, Buttler was all praise for the rejuvenated England Test side and wants to carry forward that momentum with the white-ball side.
“Soaking it up around the country, you can hear the excitement in the way people are talking about the Test team and the style of cricket they’re playing. We’ve seen sell-outs on the last day of the Test and brilliant games going all five days; it’s really Test cricket at its best,”
he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricnfo.
Three players from the Test team – Ben Stokes, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow will return to the limited overs side for the ODI leg, having been rested for the T20Is. It will allow England to give opportunities to fringe players such as Harry Brook and Phil Salt.
England have several pace bowling options in Chris Jordan, Reece Topley, Tymal Mills, David Willey and Richard Gleeson, all of whom will be eager to impress the management.
Death overs bowling has been an area of concern for England and was the reason for their downfall in the semi-final of the previous edition of T20 World Cup. Asked about whether they will look to bat first in order to improve at defending the totals, Buttler said they will have an eye on the future but at the same time will focus on the results.
“I don’t want us to get to a situation where we devalue games and think that they’re all just practice matches, like, ‘let’s do this because it might happen in six or 12 months’ time’. I want us to have an eye on the future but still try to win games of cricket at the time being as well.”
