Jos Buttler said he hopes that Joe Root and England Test captain Ben Stokes “have white-ball aspirations”, after his side secured a 3-1 T20 series victory over West Indies.

“I can’t speak for them individually, but I hope they have white-ball aspirations – they’re two great players,” Buttler said. 

“There’s a lot of depth in the team and a lot of experience [in] the team as well. There’s an exciting blend to get together and make sure that we get the white-ball team back to where we want to be.”

After winning the World Cup in 2019 on home soil, England added the ICC T20 title in 2022 – but since then have stumbled in the shorter formats, crashing out of this year’s T20 World Cup in the semi-finals to the hands of India, after also losing in the group stages to Australia and South Africa. 

But Buttler believes the blend he now has of youth and experience stands England in good stead – especially once Brendon McCullum takes over as white-ball coach in January, when England head to India for a best-of-five T20 series, followed by three One Day Internationals. 

“It’s conversations for the next few weeks with the guys in charge. The guys here have played really well,” Buttler said.

“Some of the young players have done themselves no harm at all. There are people who aren’t here who will have aspirations to be in the white-ball side as well. It’s really exciting.

“Naturally the teams will become closer in terms of personnel, but the overall messaging will be coming from one man who is in charge of England cricket now.

“The guys who play all three formats won’t feel it’s [being caught between the] red or white ball as much anymore.

“Maybe you’ll see the same faces and the same guy in charge, no matter what colour the ball is. It’s certainly going to give more consistency.”

And England’s final task of the calendar year comes in the form of a three-match Test series in New Zealand, before heading to India in January.
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