New white-ball captain Jos Buttler has expressed his frustration with England's busy schedule, admitting it his made the start of his time as skipper "tough".
Buttler's side are in the midst of a run of 12 games in just 24 days and have been far from their best, losing the ODI and T20I series to India and drawing the ODI series against South Africa. And Buttler believes the schedule has prevented England from playing "the highest standard of cricket possible" as they have not had enough time to properly prepare.
Speaking after the final ODI against South Africa was abandoned due to rain, he said: "There's no getting past the fact that the schedule makes it tough. It's also a frustration of mine we don't have any training days.
"Those training days are really important for that team cohesion, the energy within the group, the fielding drills and the camaraderie around the guys without the pressures of a game. A lot of the time around training is when you can do some of your best work, being able to have good conversations and having a feel for where the group is at and not just always being in game mode.
"To get the highest standard of cricket possible, you need to prepare properly. Hopefully, that's something we can look at going forward."
Buttler's comments come after England Test captain Ben Stokes announced his retirement from ODI cricket, labelling the current schedule "unsustainable". In a parting shot to the game's authorities, Stokes said: "We are not cars, you can’t just fill us up and we’ll go out there and be ready to be fuelled up again.
"We had a Test series and then the one-day team had a series going on at the same time – that was a bit silly. I just feel like there is too much cricket rammed in for people to play all three formats now."
And Buttler has previously said he hopes Stokes' retirement will act as a "wake up call" about the schedule. He said: "It should definitely be a bit of a wake-up call, absolutely.
"Especially with the magnitude of the player. Ben's one of the most recognisable players in world cricket, someone everyone wants to see play in every format."
