England lifted by series win, says Buttler
Former Somerset cricketer Jos Buttler thinks the 3-0 whitewashing of South Africa in their IT20 series has put them in good stead as England prepare for the T20 World Cup next year.
England managed wins of five wickets, four wickets and nine wickets across last week’s series with Buttler making a combined 96 alongside three catches and a stumping as wicket keeper. England played the same 11 for all three matches and Buttler believes it was the best way to go tactically.
In a press conference last week, he said: “Really pleasing, mission accomplished really with our strongest team which is really exciting. We put in three really good performances to win the series 3-0.
“We’ve got a fantastic squad of 15 guys in the side and winning is always really the priority, obviously there’s times where it’s exposure to others. But having everyone here available in these conditions and wanting to nail down our strongest team in these conditions, I thought that was a great way to go as a side and to get time altogether. I think it’s really important to build time together as a side.
“A lot of us have played a lot of T20 cricket but to play as an 11 for England a year out from the World Cup stands us in good stead.”
The series victory saw England move to the top of the world rankings in T20 cricket which may hand England a psychological advantage going forward and ahead into the World Cup,
Buttler said: “To an extent they mean something (the world rankings). It’s fantastic for us a side to achieve that status.
“Going into the 50-over World Cup I know there was a lot of research done, teams who win it are generally teams who are the top one or two in the world or play at home, so that’s obviously an aim for us to achieve in the rankings and it’s really a result of us playing good cricket.
“It’s exciting for us to know we’re playing well to become the number one team as well as having no limitations in this side. There’s a thirst for continuous improvement and healthy competition in the team with an abundance of fantastic players that can keep us together and push us on.
“Certainly things can be learned. I thought the real clarity we had as a 50-over side, a pretty settled team that, bar the conditions, nearly picked itself. So that was a great place to be and that’s what we’re trying to build in the T20 side.
“Obviously it was fantastic at all three games to have our players available and guys can go off and play in franchise tournaments which is a huge bonus as well and brings a lot of confidence to the team when someone like Jofra Archer wins the MVP of the biggest T20 tournament in the world. It gives a lot of confidence as a dressing room other guys performing so well in different tournaments all bodes really for us as a side.”
Alongside his wicket-keeping duties, Buttler opened the batting in the three games, as opposed to playing further down the order for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, and he insists that is where he likes to play.
He said: “I absolutely love opening
the batting, I feel like it’s the best place to bat in T20 cricket and so do about ten other guys in our side as well. It’s great to have so many options, great to have so many top players pushing each other and it’s great to have the ability to pick and choose as a side as to what order we put together.”
Buttler was also included in the ODI
squad to take on South Africa this week which was cancelled.
The schedule for England’s Test tour of Sri Lanka has been confirmed. England will play two Test matches behind closed doors at the Galle International Cricket Stadium. The Tests will take place on January 14-18 and January 22-26.
Ryan Charles snatched a stoppage time winner for Concord Rangers in a match which finished just shy of 10.30pm.
Gridlock on the M25 meant City arrived late and delayed the kickoff for nearly an hour, but they made up for lost time with Tom Smith scoring his second in four days to give the Romans a 10th minute lead.
Within six minutes they found themselves 2-1 down as Alex Wall and Aron Pollock stunned Jerry Gill’s men with efforts from outside the box.
Tommy Conway won and dispatched a penalty in the second half but Charles’ late heroics gave Concord their first home league win of 2020.
Having sat on a coach for nearly seven hours, City started surprisingly brightly and were rewarded when Ryan Harley’s low corner was met first time by Smith, whose drilled effort took a slight deflection and flew past debutant keeper Adam Pryzbek.
Concord weren’t deterred and levelled when Wall received the ball from Lewis Simper on the edge of the box and his curler saw Ryan Clarke only able to fist it into the net.
The frantic opening took another twist on 16 minutes when the visiting defence failed to clear their lines and Pollock punished their sloppiness by thundering home from 18 yards inside Clarke’s left post.
Wall latched onto James Taylor’s underhit backpass but shot too close to Clarke and Simper nodded Will Dean’s header off the line in a lively half.
City enjoyed more possession at the start of the second half and were rewarded when Conway was upended by Frazer Shaw near the byline when attempting to cut inside. Referee Aji Ajibola pointed to the spot, Conway took responsibility and thumped it down the middle to bring City back on terms.
The youngster also clipped the outside of the post before Bath were left crestfallen in injury time when a draw looked certain.
Wall’s raking free-kick was parried behind for a corner, and from Tosan Popo’s delivery, substitute Charles headed home a debut Concord goal from close range to send Danny Scopes’ men into ecstasy.
The result, coupled with Braintree drawing with Welling, pushed the Romans back to bottom spot ahead of another trip to Essex this Saturday where they’ll take on outof-form Chelmsford City.
Concord Rangers: Przybek; Pollock, Shaw, Roast, Sterling; Blackman, Popo; Blanchfield (Reynolds 18), Simper (Babalola 88), Bridge (Charles 65); Wall. Subs not used: Scott, Green. Bath City: Clarke; Taylor, Ball (Richards 73), Horton, Batten; Mehew, Dean; Conway, Harley, Smith; Wilson. Subs not used: Artus, James, Henry, Pope.
Referee: Aji Ajibola
Star man: Ryan Harley
Attendance: 221