All-format coaches or specialists? Jos Buttler shares views on the debate

All-format coaches or specialists? Jos Buttler shares views on the debate (Twitter)

Matthew Mott relinquished his role as England’s white-ball head coach in July and Brendon McCullum was subsequently given charge of the team in all three formats. After doing an impressive job as the head coach of the Test team, it will be intriguing to see how the former New Zealand captain helps the Three Lions in the white-ball formats.

After McCullum’s appointment, fans have been debating which is a better ploy – hiring an all-format coach or assigning specialists for the white-ball and red-ball teams. England’s white-ball captain, Jos Buttler, recently shared his take on this debate. According to the flamboyant wicketkeeper-batter, England had to name different coaches for the red-ball and white-ball teams.

Notably, he cited the key reason as the team’s busy schedule. While the Brits have gone back to an all-format coach, Buttler feels that the schedules should be planned smartly to avoid overexhaustion. He also floated the idea of giving McCullum breaks from certain series to manage his workload.

“There are pluses and minuses to both. Having that one guy across formats can have that consistent messaging, of course. At the time Brendon took over as Test coach along with Matthew Mott, the schedule for English cricket was incredibly busy. It looked impossible for one man to do it all. We had to balance that out. Now it’s obviously gone back to having that single head coach, but you’ll have to be smart with schedules. There might be times when ‘Baz’ needs to step out for a series and one of the assistant coaches can take charge,” Buttler said in an exclusive interview with The Times of India.

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Buttler explains the importance of the captain’s role in modern-day cricket

Furthermore, Jos Buttler was asked whether the role of a captain would diminish in the future, especially in the shortest format of the game, with so many people in the coaching staff offering support. The 34-year-old said that the captain will always have a crucial role to play as he was the one who was on the field making the calls.

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“I don’t see that at all (role of captains reducing in the future). There’s more data but making those calls on the field is still crucial. It’s such a short game, every ball is important, saving one run or two runs here and there can go a long way to winning a game. Making those calls as captain is vital. There’s just more information for the captain if you need it,” Buttler replied.