A poor defence of ODI crown in 2023 and an early exit in the T20 this year had the white-ball captain doubting his position
Jos Buttler has admitted that he feared for his job as England white-ball captain after the dismal T20 World Cup campaign in June.
Matthew Mott, England’s white ball head coach, was sacked after England’s crushing elimination by India in the semi-finals. After Mott and Buttler contributed to the 2022 T20 World Cup success, England won just three out of 12 games against Test opposition across the 2023 ODI World Cup and this year’s T20 World Cup.
Ahead of his first game since the T20 World Cup, following a calf injury, Buttler has revealed that he was worried that his stint as captain could be over as he prepares to assume a new role as England No 3.
“I thought it was a possibility, absolutely,” he said. “In that point in time after the T20 World Cup, I’m sure [England director of cricket] Rob Key did a real in-depth look at everything to do with the white-ball set-up.
“I had some good conversations with Keysy and I said I didn’t want to be doing it because I’m the only person to do it, I want to be doing it because I’m the right person to do it. He believed I could lead the team forward and captain into the future and take the team into a good place. I don’t want to be doing it because there’s no one else or that kind of feeling.”
Buttler also admitted that he questioned whether he was still the best man for the job.
“All sorts of things run through your mind,” he said. “You try and work through everything – where am I at in my career, in my batting, in my captaincy, and what I want to do, all those kind of things. So I think you sort of consider everything at that stage, especially when you’ve got a bit of space from the game.
“It’s something, I’ve really enjoyed the honour of doing – something I believe I can do well, something I know I can always get better at. Just like your batting or your wicket-keeping, it’s a skill that you can improve.
“When you really come down to it and think that is the decision you’re going to make, it actually becomes very clear that now you’re determined to do it and keep going.”
Brendon McCullum, who replaced Mott and will take as white-ball head coach in January, said that he thought that Buttler looked “a little bit miserable” at times.
“I saw that saying how miserable I am – so obviously something I need to work on,” Buttler joked. “What everyone wants to be a part of, right, is a great environment and fun.
“I’m really excited about him taking over everything in white-ball cricket, and obviously England men’s cricket. You can see the effect that he’s had on the Test team. And not just the Test team, I think the whole narrative around English cricket, coming in with a very different perspective, and what’s the talent that sits within the English game, what can we get out of the players in England?”
When McCullum’s name was first mentioned for the white-ball job, Buttler “thought that was impossible” because of the schedule. “When I did hear that there was the potential of him doing it, it was incredibly exciting.
“I’m really excited about getting the relationship with coach and captain with him. He was always someone I’d have loved to play in a team with.”
Since McCullum’s appointment, Buttler has already had several discussions with the new coach.
“I actually had some chats with Baz about this stage of your career and how it can actually be the most rewarding time. He spoke about his own experiences as captain in the last few years of when he was playing, he [said it is] not about you at all it’s about creating that environment and letting people flourish.”
In the Test set-up, McCullum has sought to pare back the number of supporting voices and declutter the dressing room. He is sure to adopt the same policy in the white-ball side, which was criticised for having too many prominent voices – including both Andrew Flintoff and Kieron Pollard as high-profile assistants – during the T20 World Cup.
“Sometimes with all the best intentions, things just don’t work out the way you want them to – that’s how I will probably look back at that time,” Buttler said.
“One of Baz’s great things, I think, is that he’s his own person. This is how he’s going to do it, and he’s a bit ‘you can take it or leave it; this is how I’ll do it’. So he’s very clear on what he wants and how he’s going to set things up.”
McCullum encouraged Buttler to experiment with playing in the team as a specialist batsman. Phil Salt will keep wicket in all five games this series, with Buttler normally fielding at mid off.
“When he moved to be close to the bowler, he found it incredibly beneficial, and he found it’s a great place to captain from for him, and being close to the bowler and making maybe the last minute calls kind of thing,” Buttler explained of his discussions with McCullum.
“I’m really open to fielding, being really committed to that, being a captain in the field. Obviously it allows you just to having a closer touch point to the bowlers and those decisions.”
Buttler will assess how he finds captaining from the field after the series. He said that his move is “not at all” related to his calf injury, which saw him ruled out for several months longer than originally expected.
“I just had a tear in my calf, doing some running. Initially it was a six-to-eight-week injury but I just had a couple of setbacks along the way – return to running bit of rehab, never quite got it exactly right.”
England had planned that Buttler would bat at number three – rather than his normal berth of opener – in the Twenty20 series against Australia in September. Buttler is expected to play in such a role at some stage in the five T20s against West Indies, with Phil Salt and Will Jacks opening the batting.
West Indies, who beat England 3-2 in the T20 series in the Caribbean in both 2022 and 2023, will be boosted by the returns of short-format superstars Nicholas Pooran and Andre Russell. Rovman Powell, another powerful hitter, captains the side.
West Indies have suspended pace bowler Alzarri Joseph for the first two games following his disagreement about fielding positions with captain Shai Hope during the third ODI. Joseph briefly left the field in fury, though he returned to bowl his full allocation of overs. “Behaviour like that is unacceptable on my cricket field,” head coach Daren Sammy said after the game.
