Righto, short and soggy. I’m off to put a belligerent toddler in the bath and then make a warming curry. The OBO will return and the sun will shine again. Thanks and goodnight!
Ali also has the latest from the England camp (before this match was kiboshed)
I thought the below was particularly interesting - Jos Buttler admitting England’s pride was dented by their damp squib of a 50 over World Cup last year. All eyes will be on the Mott-Buttler white ball coach and captain partnership over the coming weeks.
And yet memories of last winter’s borderline no-show in India still linger; that collective loss of form and identity which led to six defeats from their first seven group games. Rob Key, the team director, tried to absorb much of the blame by the end, choosing to offer Buttler and Matthew Mott another chance to show they have the requisite chemistry as captain and coach.
Mott signed off from India unwilling to publicly share any lessons, such was the grizzly nature of events and the Australian’s mood at the time. But Buttler, not always the most forthcoming, offered a couple of areas for improvement on Tuesday as his side geared up for this initial warm-up against Pakistan.
“There’s no extra pressure but that pride was obviously dented [by that World Cup] and it was a really disappointing competition,” said Buttler. “It’s a real honour to go to another World Cup as defending champions again. But it also feels like a new time, a new chapter.”
Asked what he had personally learned from last year, Buttler replied: “Making sure the communication is good. I think sometimes, by trying to give people freedom, you can hold back too much and [fail to] make sure that people are clear in their roles or have clarity.
“The easy question to ask yourself is ‘what’s best for the team?’ and then make sure you act on it. Sometimes when results don’t go your way, it’s easy as an individual or a group to go a bit internal. So we have to keep putting the team first every time and making our decisions based around that.”
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