Jos Buttler did his best to offer an upbeat appraisal of England’s record-breaking defeat by Australia in their Champions Trophy opener, insisting belief in the squad remains strong despite being left with no more breathing room in the tournament. Powerless to prevent Josh Inglis’s unbeaten 86-ball 120 from reeling in a target of 352 – the highest successful run chase in a men’s ICC event – Buttler credited his opponents in the main. He also tipped Ben Duckett, 165 from 143 balls in a total of 351 for eight, to become the first Englishman to score a double-century in ODI cricket.
Duckett doing so against Afghanistan or South Africa next week would be pretty handy for Buttler, it must be said. The two remaining Group A games – first here in Lahore, before a switch to Karachi – have now become must-win affairs, for England’s semi-final hopes and possibly his own continuation as captain.
Asked whether, after a ninth defeat in their last 12 ODIs, England were struggling to remember how to win, Buttler replied: “The longer it goes on, the closer you get to winning. The optimism and the belief is very much there in the team. “I think you have to be proud of the way we played and performed and give credit to the opposition for just being a little bit better and getting over the line. We’ll plan well, keep the boys upbeat, dust ourselves down and go again.”.
On Duckett, who stitched England’s innings together but only found genuine support from Joe Root’s 68, Buttler said: “There won’t be too many times you score 165 and end up on the losing side. His game is perfectly suited to scoring big runs. I said before the tournament he could be the first Englishman to score a double in ODI cricket.
“At innings like this one should really prove to him how consistent he can be and how many runs he can score in this format. It is a big year for English cricket and he’s going to be at the forefront of it. To start as he has done, and looking ahead, I’m sure England fans will be excited to watch him bat for the rest of the year.”.
In mitigation, it was a tough toss to lose, the pitch slowing up in the first innings before dew fell late on and saw the ball skid on. “I liked the balance of the team that we went with,” added Buttler, regarding the batter-heavy selection. “I thought Root and Liam Livingstone bowled really well and built some nice pressure together.
