Windies vs England 2019: Good Reality Check For England Test Ambitions, Admits Jos Buttler

Jos Buttler, England Cricket team’s vice-captain, has blamed the batting unit for their poor show in the opening Test against Windies at Barbados. Meanwhile, England needs 572 runs to win the Test with two days still to play.

Windies bundled out England for a paltry score of 77 runs and backed on a double century from Jason Holder and a century from Shane Dowrich to set a massive target of 628 runs. Speaking about their effort, Jos Buttler said a no three ranked Test side should bat a lot better, and they are hopeful of rising again.

In addition to, Buttler also added they aim to be the top-ranked Test side and their first innings effort was nowhere near. He also noted that they need to adapt well in the overseas conditions.

“With the bat, we have fallen well below,” said Buttler. “Our aim is to be the No.1 side in the world and that was nowhere near good enough. We have had a good run of games, but when playing abroad it is about adapting to conditions.

“We have to be better at coming through tough situations when guys are bowling well. It is a good reality check as a side about where we are at,” he added.

Better than the scorecard suggest

In addition to, Jos Buttler added that the England team were better than what the mere scorecard suggests. The wicket-keeper rues that they were unable to stitch partnerships which hurt their cause. However, Buttler lauded his teammates for putting in a great effort and made a special mention for Ben Stokes and James Anderson for showing unbelievable passion.

“(Being bowled out for 77) was a really poor reflection on us as a side. We are much better than that,” he said. “In those situations, you always feel you will get a partnership and seize the initiative back. We were never able to do that.

We were not good enough to grind out a period of play, and that really hurts you in Test cricket when you have a drastically poor session. Today was pretty thankless out there, but the guys kept putting in. Ben Stokes and Jimmy Anderson showed unbelievable passion to play for England by keeping going,” he added.