Return to form via a superb half-century in the third and final T20I on the just-concluded tour to South Africa in Centurion on Sunday (February 16) would've provided wicketkeeper batsman Jos Buttler a major confidence booster heading towards the upcoming two-match Test series in Sri Lanka, reckons England head coach Chris Silverwood.

Buttler remains a force to be reckon with in white-ball cricket but has faced a very disappointing period in Test cricket since the beginning of the Ashes in the summer last year; he averaged only 24.70 after 10 innings against Australia, just 21.50 in New Zealand and performed even more poorly during the Basil de'Oliveira Trophy versus the Proteas. 

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However, a flamboyant knock at Supersport park, albeit in non red-ball circumstances, Silverwood believes could pave way for Buttler's late winter resurgence in the traditional format.

"Runs breed confidence within a batsman — to see him come off with a smile on his face in the way he did was superb," Reuters quoted the head coach as saying. "Hopefully he’ll take a lot of confidence from it and bring that with him to Sri Lanka."

Silverwood is also happy with his team's preparations towards the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year, especially as England looked close to finding its best balance in the 2-1 series victory over the Proteas. 

"The more they’ve played together, the better they’ve got — we’ve seen the improvement throughout the series so I don’t think we’re a million miles away," he added.

"But we’ll obviously refocus now on the Test series against Sri Lanka and look to pick up where we left off."

England takes on Sri Lanka in two World Test Championship fixtures in Galle and Colombo from March 19. 

(Inputs from Reuters)