England star keeper-batter Jos Buttler admits fearing losing his white-ball captaincy after his team failed to defend their T20 World Cup title in the Americas in June this year. Following their spike in success in ODIs and T20Is post-2015, where they won both the ODI and T20 World Cups, England suffered lows in the following editions, failing to win both. As a result, head coach Matthew Mott suffered the wrath of it, with Buttler’s future hanging by a thin thread.
Though the ECB Director of Cricket Robert Key sacked Mott from his position, appointing Brendon McCullum as his replacement, he decided to stick with Buttler as the white-ball captain. As Buttler makes his comeback to England’s T20I side for the first time since suffering a calf injury four months ago, he reflects on his time away from the game and his responsibility to take England’s dying white-ball cricket forward.
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“I thought it was a possibility, absolutely,” Buttler admitted when asked if he felt suffering the same fate as Mott.
“But, ‘Keysy’ believed I could lead the team forward and captain into the future. I had some good conversations with him, 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.
“I’ve really enjoyed the honour of doing it, it’s something I believe I can do well, something I know I can always get better at, just as with batting or wicketkeeping, it’s a skill that you can improve. It actually became very clear that you’re determined to do it and keep going,” he continued.
Buttler, 34, said his calf injury gave him a new perspective about his cricket future, with the England star committing to play to develop the next era of England’s white-ball era, though he spilt beans on how much cricket was left in him.
“However long I play for, and hopefully it’s a long time, I just want to be present and help develop the next era of white-ball cricket and just really, really enjoy this part of my cricket,” said Buttler. “I don’t have to try and protect anything or sort of hang on, I just want this to be an incredibly fulfilling time of my life.
“When you get an injury like that, it makes you realise how desperately you want to get back and the stuff that you really enjoy doing, so that’s the mindset of however long I’ve got back,” he added.
Meanwhile, Buttler will return to the England Team for the first T20I against West Indies in Barbados on Saturday (Nov 9), but will not keep wickets, with Phil Salt continuing in his role for the five T20Is.
(With inputs from agencies)
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