IND vs ENG: Jos Buttler Realistic About Player Workloads Amid England Fixture Pile-up
Published - 02 Jul 2022, 01:22 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:09 AM
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Due to fixture congestion, Jos Buttler, England’s new white-ball captain, does not anticipate having his strongest side at his disposal until two weeks before to the T20 World Cup.
England revealed their teams for the India matches on Friday. England will play 12 limited-overs internationals – three ODIs and three T20Is – against both South Africa and India in 25 days starting on July 7. The T20I leg of the series, which starts two days after the planned fifth day, will include rested players from the on-going Test match in Birmingham.
Not Possible For Guys To Play All The Cricket: Jos Buttler
Before heading to Worcester for a rare Lancashire appearance in the T20 Blast tonight, Jos Buttler spoke with Sky Sports at Edgbaston.
“The way the schedule is, you’ve got to manage players,”. “We have to be very honest about that: with the T20s starting two days after this game here is due to end, it’s not possible for guys to play all the cricket.
Jos Buttler made it clear on Friday that Alex Hales is qualified to play for England but has simply been passed over.
Hales, 33, hasn’t played for England since being dropped from their World Cup team just before the competition due to a failing drug test. “Alex is up for selection as everyone is in the country,” Buttler said.
“We’re really blessed with a lot of strength in depth at the moment. “We’ve been really impressed with certain guys who’ve come in and deserve their chance, but no, everyone is available for selection.”
“What’s important for me, looking ahead to that World Cup, is we play three T20s against Australia before that World Cup starts and that would be the time, I’d like to go into that series with what I think is going to be our team to start that World Cup.”
With the third Test against South Africa scheduled to end on September 12, red-ball players are unlikely to be available when England travels to Pakistan for seven T20Is. “That maybe clashes a little bit with the Test matches,” Buttler said.
“There may be a few games that we have to manage through that period and maybe they don’t come to Pakistan or maybe just do a little bit of it.
Seven games is a lot, so that gives us a chance to expose players to pressure situations as well. The guys we are talking about who probably won’t be available are seasoned pros and quite experienced, so I don’t see it being a problem.”
I Got Left Out On Merit: Jos Buttler
After this winter’s Ashes, Buttler lost his own spot in the Test team and downplayed the likelihood of a homecoming after Rajasthan Royals coach Kumar Sangakkara said that he may make a comeback as the opening batter.
“I thought someone had written the wrong story, to be honest,” he told the BBC’s Test Match Special. “I don’t think there’s much merit in that.”
He added to Sky: “I’m really enjoying watching as a fan, at the minute. To be honest, I wasn’t worth my place in the side. I got left out on merit. I’ve got a great challenge with the white-ball team now, becoming captain as well. I’m really excited for that challenge and that’s where all my energy is.”
Buttler said that Joe Root still has a chance to gain a short-form recall and that Ben Stokes, his Test counterpart who last played a T20I in March 2021, is “someone you want in your squad… in whatever format of the game.”
“His opportunities have been really, really limited but he’s certainly someone we’ll always keep an eye on, because he’s a top-class player,” Buttler said.
He also downplayed any worries he might have had about his personal workload, saying he was “very enthusiastic” to keep wicket even while serving as captain and opening the batting for the T20I team. “Keeping wicket is a nice place to captain from,” he said. “I’ll be running around, pretty busy, but T20 is a pretty short game.”
I Cannot Be Eoin Morgan: Jos Buttler
Jos Buttler was speaking in front of the public for the first time since it was formally announced that he will succeed Eoin Morgan. He stated that he aims to mimic the way that Morgan led from the front by playing in the ultra-attacking style that he supported during his stay. He remarked that he “can’t be Morgs – I’ve got to be myself,” but he added that he “can’t be Morgs.
“He asked people to play in a certain way and he would walk out, third ball, running down the wicket, trying to hit it over long-on for six,” Buttler said. “As a fellow player, you watch your captain do that and you think ‘let’s tuck in behind him and follow that lead’.”
He addressed the topic of using data in his captaincy, hinting that he will continue to use the coded-signal system that Nathan Leamon, the team’s analyst, has implemented over the past 18 months, and recommended that Morgan remain involved in English cricket in some capacity down the road “because you can’t waste great minds like that.”
“It’d be naive not to use the data that’s there, but the skill of that is how you use it,” Buttler said. “It’s not as black and white as what the numbers tell you. I’d still quite like to have some cricket intuition. I just see it as an extra piece of information that can be there, and whether you use it or not, is then my call.”
