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Captain Buttler ready to step into breach
- Updated: September 29, 2016
England’s tour of Bangladesh, with its attendant security concerns resulting in the absence of the ODIs side’s captain and first-choice opener, is one that requires handling sensitively. In Jos Buttler, who has accepted the captaincy on a locum basis, they seem to have as sensitive and thoughtful a leader as there is among the young group.
Buttler has already insisted that, as far as he is concerned, Eoin Morgan remains the captain of the one-day side and will return to the job when England go to India in the New Year. “I fully expect it’s a short-term thing,” he reiterated before the team’s departure for Dhaka, having been in touch with Morgan over the phone to discuss the challenge ahead. Alastair Cook, the Test captain who will be joining the ODI squad as part of his preparations for the tour, has also texted his encouragement and will be on hand for advice.
The next few weeks will ask a lot of Buttler. Some were surprised when he was named Morgan’s deputy ahead of the 2015 World Cup and he still does not have much in the way of captaincy experience beyond leading England in a T20 against Pakistan in Dubai last November. With his soft-spoken demeanour, he is not what some people expect of a classic on-field general but he is determined to do the job his way.
“I’ll try and be genuine, I’ll try and be myself, I’m not going to be anyone I’m not as a captain,” he said. “I think I view the game in a very similar way to Eoin Morgan, I’ll try and be aggressive. The way we have been playing the last 18 months, I’ll ask the guys to play in exactly the same way – obviously conditions will dictate that to an extent as well. It’s a young squad but it’s an experienced squad in terms of cricket and game awareness, and that’s something we’re going to need in Bangladesh.”
As well as the increased level of security for the players to deal with – “for the first few days it will be in your mind” – England will face an opponent eager …
