England’s preparations for the Ashes 2021–22 may have been disrupted by the poor weather in Brisbane, but wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler insisted that the tourists won’t be using it as an excuse if they perform poorly in the first Test, starting on December 8.
Buttler is part of the second group of England players, including Mark Wood, Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, and Chris Woakes, who joined the national squad on Tuesday (November 30) following their 14 days of quarantine in Queensland after returning from the T20 World Cup 2021.
He was to feature in England’s final warm-up match on Tuesday, but it was also rained off after a three-day practice match was washed out last week.
Buttler hasn’t played Test cricket since August and hasn’t even featured in first-class games, but he is ready to embrace the challenge in Australia in the Ashes.
Buttler told reporters, “In this day and age, lots of us go between formats quite often. In the COVID era, things have changed quite a lot as well, with quarantine rules making certain things a little bit trickier.”
He further added, “I do think it's something that you just have to deal with as a modern player, to be able to walk into situations without having full preparation. No team should be using that as an excuse, you can still turn up on that first day and play a really good Test match.”
With the cases of the new Omicron variant COVID-19 detected in arriving passengers in New South Wales, the conditions for the England players and their families might change, but Buttler denied engaging in debates about hypothetical situations.
He further added, “It's a hypothetical situation at the minute. I find it tiring to talk about it when you don't know. Until we get told that something's changed there's no decision to make and it just adds to the unknown. So that's not for me to worry about at the minute. There's a week to go until the first Test here, and all our energies are focused on that.”
On his maiden Ashes series in Australia and even without any preparations, Buttler said: “It's the first time I'm experiencing an Ashes series [in Australia] so I'm fully determined to enjoy all the challenges that throw up. I'm excited to experience it, the good the bad, and I'm sure the highs and lows along the way. As a player at the minute, I'm trying to bring a fearless approach and to truly try and embrace the opportunity. I know when I get to somewhere near my best that's going to be pretty good.”
He concluded, “I think the challenge always as a player is to adapt to any conditions that are in front of you and adapt quickly. The practice, when you can practice, is incredibly important for a player as it helps him in understanding the conditions and playing accordingly. I will try to dip into that experience and I'm in my early 30s now so played quite a bit of cricket and hopefully know what to expect.”
(With Reuters/ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
