Pune (Maharashtra) [India] : England skipper Jos Buttler has expressed his desire to continue as captain during the tour of West Indies following a disastrous ICC Cricket World Cup campaign in India.
As per ESPNCricinfo, Buttler will tell Rob Key, England’s managing director, that he wants to continue as England’s white-ball skipper during the series against West Indies from December onwards. The WC has been a terrible one for the defending champions, who have managed just two wins in eight games and sit at seventh spot in the table.
After losing the campaign opener to New Zealand, England seemed to have bounced back after a win over Bangladesh, but they went on a five-match losing streak to Afghanistan, Sri Lanka South Africa, India and Australia before finally putting an end to this miserable run with a 160-run win over Netherlands at Pune.
Sitting at the seventh spot, England’s aspirations to qualify for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 are alive. They have leapfrogged Sri Lanka, Bangladesh on the basis of net-run-rate (NRR) and can qualify for the Champions Trophy even if they lose to Pakistan on Sunday.
Key spent two weeks with the team earlier in the tournament and has returned to India to meet Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott, with team selection for the West Indies tour on the agenda.
A key reason behind England’s decline is Buttler’s form, he has managed just 111 runs in the tournament at an average of 13.87, with 43 as his best score.
“I would like to [lead in the Caribbean], I know Rob Key arrives in India today. We can have some good conversations with him and the coach and everyone, and make a plan for that tour. But yeah, I would like to,” said Buttler as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
Buttler also admitted that he was “very frustrated” with his own batting.
“You want to lead from the front and do that in your own performance. I will stick to the stuff that has served me well over a long period of time when I have had these little runs of form and hopefully, I will come out the other side of it very soon,” said the skipper.
England is likely to make changes to the ODI side for the WI tour, with youngsters like Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed coming in.
The T20I squad will be stronger, where England will play four matches before the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the US next June, where they will attempt to defend their title.