England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
England, who were the defending champions, had a disappointing performance in the recently concluded ICC ODI World Cup where they failed to qualify for the knockout stages.
As a result, Jos Buttler, the team’s captain, faced criticism from fans and experts. However, Buttler has expressed his ambition to restore England’s white-ball cricket to its former glory and take personal responsibility for shaping the next phase of the format’s development.
Following England’s two-day training at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, Buttler, reflecting on a challenging two months, emphasised the talent and excitement surrounding what he deemed a new beginning and acknowledged the blend of players with Test cricket experience who are relatively new to the ODI format.
“There’s some really exciting talent in this team. Young guys eager to get their opportunities and perform. There’s some guys that have not been exposed to ODI cricket a lot, but have a lot of experience in Test cricket, so not necessarily new to the international game. It’s a nice blend,” Butter was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
During training, fast bowler John Turner caught Buttler’s attention with an impressive spell of high-quality fast bowling, showcasing the exciting pool of seam bowlers. Reece Topley, recovering from a broken finger sustained in the World Cup, joined the group to prepare for the upcoming T20I series.
Despite the recent setback, Buttler expressed confidence in the depth of talent emerging and pledged to contribute to restoring England’s white-ball cricket to its historic heights. He also emphasised the importance of using the recent tournament as a positive experience to go into the rest of his career.
“[And] realising that sort of tournament doesn’t define you. I’ve got to use it as motivation and hunger to push myself and the team forward and take the learnings from that. Use it as a positive experience to go into the rest of my career….I always think of Ben Stokes’ words to Jofra [Archer] about the [2019] Super Over. ‘Whatever happens here doesn’t define you,’ and I certainly feel like that World Cup isn’t the defining moment for me,” he added.
I’m at the stage of my life and career where I have got good perspective: Jos Buttler
As a father of two children, Buttler highlighted the valuable perspective gained, noting that life moves on and there is always something to look forward to.
“I’m at the stage of my life and career where I have got good perspective. I get home and have got two children who don’t really care about the World Cup. It certainly gives you a nice focus as a dad and those things, but I’m a very proud guy as well and have disappointments. But you know, life moves on, the world moves on pretty fast. There’s always something to look forward to. It’s never as bad as you think it is and it’s never as good as you think it is,” he concluded.