Skipper: Jos Buttler
(Picture: Getty Images)Jos Buttler says he feels for England’s most talented young players, who face an “impossible” task to become all-format cricketers due to the game’s overloaded schedule.
Buttler’s ODI team begin their World Cup build-up in earnest with a three-match series in South Africa, starting with the opener in Bloemfontein tomorrow.
Among the players hoping to stake a claim for a place on the flight to India in October are batters Harry Brook, who will make his 50-over debut having already excelled in T20 and Test colours, and Ben Duckett, who will win his first ODI cap in more than six years, having impressed during recalls in the other two formats.
Time is of the essence for both Duckett and Brook, neither of whom are expected to be available for England’s next ODI series in Bangladesh. That begins in Dhaka on March 1, the day after England’s Test tour to New Zealand - for which both have been selected - is scheduled to finish in Wellington.
“I feel for the players to be honest,” Buttler said. “There are certain players who have the ability to play all three formats but that is kind of impossible because of the schedules.
“That is a frustration I would have if I was a young player growing up now, that you don’t want to feel pigeon-holed as a player because the schedule doesn’t allow you to play everything.”
Duckett and Brook are expected to bat at three and four, respectively, in South Africa, though at this stage they look to be vying for a single position in England’s first-choice XI, with Joe Root rested for this series but nailed on to return to the side for the World Cup.
“It’s going to be pretty impossible for those guys to be involved [in Bangladesh], so it’s really important we expose them here and give them opportunity,” Buttler added. “We’ve got to use these games here and in Bangladesh to experiment a bit, expose people to playing international cricket. That’s just something we have to manage the whole way through. If we play well, I think we should win games of cricket.”
Buttler also revealed that, with Jonny Bairstow still injured, Dawid Malan will open alongside the under-pressure Jason Roy, the Yorkshire batter set to get the nod over Phil Salt, who has been struggling with illness in the build-up.
“My preference is Malan and Roy to open at the start of the series,” Buttler confirmed. “Malan has performed very well in international cricket for a long time. [He’s] batted three at certain times, but we want to get Duckett and Brook in at three and four to expose them.
“Jason has an outstanding record over a long period of time. He knows he’s not performing as well as he’d like to at the minute, he knows that more than anyone, but we are backing him. He has been a really influential figure in white-ball cricket, the 50-over team. He has been exceptional for a long period of time. We think he has loads to offer, and are excited to see him get back to his best.”
Following the Bangladesh tour, England do not play another ODI until September, with the front half of the home summer geared around the Ashes and then the Hundred granted its own window in August.
Consistency in selection had been one of the pillars of England’s rise in the build-up to the 2019 World Cup, with players - once picked - given ample opportunity to succeed in defined roles. Head coach Matthew Mott reiterated earlier this week that he wants it to be “harder to get in the team than get out of it” but the lack of ODI cricket between now and the World Cup means Buttler is aware of the need for an open mind.
“We have to look at what everyone’s doing, whether that be playing in franchise tournaments, whether that’s playing in the Test team, IPL, the Hundred and the Blast,” he added. “If people are performing really well and banging the door down, that’s what’s been happening for a long time in white ball cricket, and I expect guys to be doing everything they can over the next nine months to put their name in the hat as well.
“That’s wherever they are playing their cricket - it doesn’t have to be here in ODIs for England. You can demand a place in that squad wherever you’re playing. That competition for places is something that’s driven standards for a long time, and I want that to continue.”
