Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ODI SERIES, TAURANGA BUTTLER’S RED LETTER DAY
Jos will buck the trend and stick with red-ball cricket to achieve his big Test-match dreams
JOS BUTTLER has no intention of becoming a limited-overs specialist, insisting he has unfinished business in Test cricket.
Adil Rashid and Alex Hales are the first England players to sign white-ball-only contracts with their counties, a decision that effectively ends their Test careers.
Yet Buttler has no plans to follow suit after stating his desire to get back into the Test team.
The 27-year-old showed why he is perhaps England’s most destructive limited-overs batsman when he top-scored with 79 during a dramatic three-wicket defeat by New Zealand in Sunday’s opening ODI in Hamilton.
But he has been unable to replicate that form in the 18 Tests he has played, failing to score a century and losing his place as wicketkeeper-batsman to Jonny Bairstow in late 2015. Buttler played the final three Tests of last winter’s series in India as a batsman only, but has not been considered since and appears unlikely to get a recall any time soon.
Given he has played only five County Championship games for Lancashire in the past three years and will miss the first half of next summer’s campaign to play in the Indian Premier League, it would be understandable if Buttler decided to join
Rashid and
Hales in going to get back in, that’s when I need to score runs.”
England have moved from Hamilton to Mount Maunganui turning ahead of tomorrow’s second ODI, where they hope the presence of his Ben Stokes can help them turn back on this five-match series around. red-ball Stokes looked sharp making his cricket. comeback on Sunday exactly five But his months after the late-night burning ambition incident in Bristol that landed him to with a charge of affray and saw make it as a him miss the entire Ashes tour. Test player “He brings so much to the team means he has no both on and off the field,” said intention of doing Buttler. “He always puts in that just yet. performances – and I’m sure, “At the minute, I’m very having got that one game out of happy with my situation,” the way, he’ll go from strength to said Buttler. “Yes, it does mean I strength throughout the series. still have Test ambitions. “He’s a world-class all-rounder. “I haven’t played a great deal of Then there’s his character around red-ball cricket recently. I think at the group. His infectious personality the back end of this year, I’ll be rubs off on people – he demands available for quite a lot of the best from us. So having Championship cricket – so if I’m him back around is a great asset.”