Jos Buttler will consider his future as England’s white-ball captain after the agonising eight-run defeat to 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 this weekend’s final group game against South Africa already out of the running for the semi-finals. Their agonising eight-run defeat to the Afghans, following Saturday’s loss to Australia, made it a third consecutive tournament failure at a global tournament 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 that year’s T20 World Cup – 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, which saw his side 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 ECB chief executive, have been on the ground in Pakistan but are due to fly back to the UK on Thursday. Given the pair only recently made Brendon McCullum the all-format men’s 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.”.
Sign up to The Spin. Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s action. after newsletter promotion. 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.”.
