Jos Buttler (Twitter)
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) appointed Brendon McCullum as the new white-ball head coach. The former New Zealand international has done a commendable job as the red-ball coach and will also serve the white-ball squad from January 2025. Ahead of that, captain Jos Buttler, who’s currently out with a calf injury, stated that he is eager to share the dressing room with McCullum and expects to learn a lot about captaincy.
The 34-year-old noted that McCullum is very similar to him as both are aggressive in nature. He is open to seeing things differently and wants the next phase of his career to be the most enjoyable one.
“I have a bit of a relationship with Baz (Brendon McCullum) but I’m looking forward to spending more time with him. I’m looking forward to digging into the cricket side of things. He will help me so much as a captain,” Buttler told Sky Sports.
“We’re similar in the way we see the game but just getting to spend time with him and opening my eyes to certain things or the other way around. For me, I want this to be the most enjoyable part of my career. I’ve played for a decent amount of time now so maybe a shift in the goalposts of what you really want to achieve and for me that’s helping guys become what they can be and building towards two big events later on,” he further added.
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Meanwhile, under Buttler’s leadership, England struggled in the ODI World Cup 2023 and also failed to qualify for the final in the T20 World Cup 2024. He was reported to be dropped as captain but the team management kept their trust in him and has been retained as captain. Now, his partnership with McCullum will be key as England are going through a transition. Senior players such as Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy among a few others are no more in contention as plenty of youngsters have been called up for the ongoing Australia series.