Whether England sink or swim over the last three matches of the T20 World Cup, they will have done so under Jos Buttler's total command.
The England captain delivered the personal masterclass of batting and tactical decision-making against New Zealand that his players felt had been coming since taking over the top job from Eoin Morgan. But until Buttler actually produced it in the high pressure environment of a World Cup, both he and his players would have been left waiting for confirmation.
There was a natural period of transition for Buttler to go through as he took over the reins full time, and with difficult results over the summer, it perhaps didn’t go quite as smoothly as he hoped.
