Jos Buttler will consider his future as England’s white-ball captain after the agonising eight-run defeat by Afghanistan in Lahore that terminated his side’s Champions Trophy hopes, and left him wondering whether he is part of the problem.
England fly to Karachi on Thursday for their final group game – against South Africa on Saturday – already out of the running for the semi-finals. Their defeat by Afghanistan, following the loss against Australia last Saturday, made it a third consecutive tournament failure under Buttler’s leadership.
Asked if he will now weigh up the role he inherited from Eoin Morgan in 2022 – one that began with initial silverware at the T20 World Cup that year – Buttler replied: “Yep. Obviously the results aren’t where they need to be. We need to consider all possibilities and get England cricket back to where it needs to be.
“I’ve got to work out personally, am I part of the problem or am I part of the solution?
I’m not going to make any emotional decisions right here, right now. The guys at the top – they’re in charge and they will have their own views as well.”
Regarding the match, in which his side were bowled out for 317 with a ball to spare chasing 326 to win, their heads still spinning from Ibrahim Zadran’s remarkable 177, Buttler said: “We’re obviously gutted. We had our chances. It has been a familiar theme. A more firing and confident team would have got over the line.”
Both Rob Key, England’s team director, and Richard Gould, the England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive, have been on the ground in Pakistan but are due to return to the UK on Thursday. Given the pair only recently made Brendon McCullum the all-format men’s head coach in a final attempt to help Buttler, any decision may well be out of the captain’s hands.
“I know lots of people think being captain doesn’t sit well with me,” said Buttler, who has overseen 22 defeats from 34 ODIs since replacing Morgan. “But I really do enjoy it. Results are tough and weigh heavy at times. You want to be leading a winning team. We haven’t been that for a while now. It makes for some difficult moments.”
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On Mark Wood, who picked up a knee injury four overs into his work to leave an already batter-heavy line-up struggling in the field, Buttler added: “He bowled through a lot of pain and I thought he showed unbelievable character. It’s never easy [losing a bowler] but that was the balance that we were comfortable going into the match with.”
Once Jos Buttler walked into the press conference room at Karachi’s National Stadium on Friday night, flanked by Brendon McCullum, what followed was no surpri
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