Jos Buttler still garnering hopes of his Test comeback

Buttler has not given up his hopes on a Test return.

Buttler has played 18 Test so far for England. (Daily Express)

Having made his Test debut against India and playing 18 Tests since then, England gloveman Jos Buttler is still garnering hopes of a Test comeback. At a time when his teammates are choosing white ball cricket over the red cherry, Buttler is focussing on his Test cricket return. 

"At the minute, I'm very happy with my situation," he said. "It's obviously the right decision for them, and an exciting decision for them. But for me at the moment, I'm quite happy." He confirmed he still harbours Test ambitions but admitted he would have to score runs in first-class cricket for Lancashire to get back into the side. 

Buttler has played 18 Tests in all but averages just 31 without a hundred in the five-day format. Although he was part of the team which won the Ashes in 2015, his limited overs prowess has far exceeded his Test pedigree to date. It would be understandable should he have a sense of unfinished business in the red-ball game but it is not something that he says weighs heavily on him. 

"I haven't played a great deal of red-ball cricket recently," he added. "Whether that [Test] opportunity comes [depends on] performance. I think at the back-end of this year I'll be available for quite a lot of Championship cricket - so if I'm going to get back in that's when I need to score runs."

Regarding not playing too much of Test cricket Buttler said he has no regrets but still is eying for a comeback. "I don't want to have too many regrets," Buttler said. "I'm obviously very fortunate to have played Test cricket at all. I was thinking about it the other day - that one thing you'd want to get out of a Test career would be winning an Ashes series in England. Not that I performed very well. But I'm lucky enough to have that, and no one will ever take that away from me. You're always desperate to do as well as you can, and fulfil your promise and potential as much as you can. But I won't lose any sleep over it."

For the moment, Buttler is keen for England to improve on their showing in the first ODI against New Zealand in Hamilton on Sunday (February 25) which they lost by three wickets. "I think we were a little bit sloppy for our standards - especially on small grounds like that (Hamilton) defending the boundary and shot-stopping in the ring obviously highlights it because the ball runs away," he said.

"That's an area we need to improve. We missed a few chances as well. To try and create wicket-taking opportunities when two good players get in in a partnership in one-day cricket, the half-chances we need to try and take them. They obviously know their conditions very well, they're a very good side, obviously beaten finalists in the last World Cup, so we give them a lot of respect" concluded the England wicketkeeper. 
 

 
 

By Anshuman Roy - 27 Feb, 2018

    Share Via