As he prepares to lead England against India for the first time as a full-time white-ball captain, Jos Buttler stated that there was "no red ball in his bag at the moment." He held his first press conference on the opening day of the rescheduled Test at Edgbaston between England and India.
Regarding the rumour going around that he could replace Zak Crawley in the Test team, Buttler said: “I thought someone had written the wrong story, to be honest, I don’t think there is much merit in that. It was Kumar [Sangakkara], wasn’t it? Maybe he was just promoting Rajasthan Royals openers!”
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Buttler acknowledged that the Ashes series in 2021–2022 didn’t go well for him, and he added that given the way his country's Test side is now performing, they don't appear to be a team that requires support.
“I was left out on merit. Rightfully so. I had a poor Ashes series and I’m not part of the team at the moment, and the team is playing fantastically well so it doesn’t look like a team that needs people to get into it. I’m very focused on the white-ball stuff … I think it’s going to be a really big challenge and one that needs my full time,” he stated.
Eoin Morgan, who led England to the 2019 World Cup triumph, retired from international cricket earlier this week and he has been replaced by Jos Buttler.
The new white-ball skipper acknowledged that it will be hard to fill Morgan's shoes.
“They’re big shoes to fill, aren’t they?” he said. “It’s been fantastic for the last seven years. It’s obvious the way everybody talks about him what a great captain’s he’s been.
“I see the game in a very, very similar way to Eoin. And I want us to play in exactly the same way. One big thing that we always talked about as a group is not setting boundaries, not having limitations, always being keen to improve, always keen to push the bar higher.”
“It is about learning all the different aspects of captaincy with the stuff off the field, planning ahead, thinking about those other things. Once I get on the field, I feel quite comfortable with that having done it a few times before.” Jos explained.
The likes of Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, and Ben Stokes have returned to England's ODI squad for the upcoming series against India at home.
Both the T20I and ODI squad feature Yorkshire's Harry Brook, whose stellar season has carried over to the Blast, and Lancashire legspinner Matt Parkinson, who steps in for Adil Rashid, who will perform the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Despite scoring a century on his ODI debut in Amsterdam, Dawid Malan has left off the team, and Ben Stokes skips the T20I series to manage his workload.
On being asked about Moeen and Rashid, Buttler said: “The way the Test team is playing at the moment, every cricketer in the country is desperate to be part of that team. Whatever happens for those guys down the line, they’re a huge part of the white-ball team, have been really important for us for a long period of time and I just want to see them playing whatever cricket they really want to play.”
The uncapped Richard Gleeson, a teammate of Buttler's from Lancashire, is called up due to the long list of fast-bowling injuries. Gleeson was brilliant in the Vitality Blast 2022, having taken 21 wickets in 13 games.
The door creaked open slightly for Alex Hales, who hasn’t played since failing a drug test ahead of the 2019 World Cup.
“Alex is up for selection as everyone is in the country, 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 everyone is available for selection,” Buttler said.
After the Edgbaston Test, Buttler and his team will take the field for the limited-overs series against Rohit Sharma's India. On Thursday, July 7, the first of three T20 Internationals will be played out at Southampton's Rose Bowl stadium.
(THE GUARDIAN INPUTS)
