Red Rose ace Buttler serves up a real treat
JOS Buttler credited England captain Eoin Morgan with giving him the inspiration and self-belief to become a match-winning Twenty20 opener.
The Lancashire wicketkeeper hit a career-best 83 not out against India, batting through the innings to seal an eightwicket win and a 2-1 series lead with two to play.
His 52-ball knock contained four sixes and five boundaries, making a chase of 157 look simple in Ahmedabad and even putting Virat Kohli’s classy 77no in the shade.
Buttler spent the first 61 matches of his England career in the middle order before being promoted in 2018. Since then the debate over how and where to use a batsman widely considered as the most complete white-ball player the country has ever seen has continued.
Asked if his dominant performance squashed the discussion, Buttler said: “I don’t know if it will ever end, people seem to quite enjoy talking about it. I certainly feel the pressure of that sometimes.
“We have lots of guys who would love to bat in that opening position.
“For most people it’s probably the best place to bat in the game.
“But I know I’ve got the full backing of Morgs to go and do it, which gives me a lot of confidence.
“I know Morgs is keen for me to open in this team and I do it with his backing. Eoin is always clear with every single player on what he expects of them, at the moment he wants me to open and backs me 100 per cent.
“It is my preference and I was delighted to contribute here.
“Any time you are not out at the end and see your side home is a fantastic feeling.”
ROSSENDALE Rugby Union Club have assured supporters that the club is on right track ahead of the return to rugby.
The club has not played a fixture since March 14th 2020, when they lost to Harrogate 29-26.
After that, the majority of the rugby union leagues were forced to suspend fixtures due to the Covid19 pandemic.
With Rossendale ninth in North Premier, the season was declared null and void.
Last month, the Rugby Football Union unveiled their ‘Return to Community Rugby Roadmap’, offering the club a pathway back to some level of normality.
The majority of players and coaching staff, including coach Ian Jones, remain at the club and are “keen to return training as soon as they can.”
Stags chairman Nicholas Ingham is hoping for a swift return to action for the club after being told several times the league could be restarted at any point, and he believes the players have been motivating one another to be ready forwhenever the green light to resume is given.
“Prior to Christmas, there was always a bit of hope that we were going to start,” he said. “October was never that realistic. But there was a glimmer that we might have been able to start around October-November.
“Then you got to Christmas time, and we might be to play in January. But then of course, as soon as the lockdown came, it was obvious that rugby was never going to happen this season.
“It’s really about trying to keep the players fit, but gyms are shut now. So, trying to motivate them to keep them going is hard work.
“But there seems to be good spirit. They send things round group chats and I think they are all waiting to get outdoors and do a bit of training.
“Whereas we used to finish at the beginning of April after Easter, and we didn’t used to start training until the 1st of July, we will start a lot earlier this year. We will hopefully start in the middle of April/May time when we can start training, and will go right through then until hopefully starting the fixtures on the first Saturday in September.”
Ingham then went on to thank the fans and to the local business’ for supporting the club and giving them the finances to still operate, despite the pandemic.
But in terms of funding, Rossendale have turned to the RFU and other organisations, in order to gain the revenue needed to maintain their day-today activities.
“As a clubhouse, we are very fortunate that it is a sports club,” he said.
“The sports club kept open as long as it could do prior to Christmas, because he amateur (football) side were still playing. But we were restricted to the number of people allowed in the clubhouse. But since the football stopped in November, the clubhouse has been shut. So, we have obviously lost revenue there.
“As a rugby club, our main expense is the maintenance and upkeep of the pitch. We have just applied for a grant from the RFU, an interim grant for about £8,000. We don’t know if we have been successful yet.
“Also, we are launching our crowdfunding appeal for £20,000. It’s backed by Sport England, where we are hoping to raise £10,000 and then we will get £10,000 from Sport England. And the majority of that will go towards the maintenance and upkeep of the pitches. Because in maintenance, we are looking between £8,000£10,000 per year, it depends how much work we do in the closed season.”
The RFU’s “Roadmap” will run as follows:
● PHASE A (Current Status) Until March 29th: Lockdown restrictions remain.
● PHASE D1 from 29th March: Contact training will commence (excluding scrum and maul) and clubs can compete in Ready4Rugby, 02 Touch Rugby and Tag matches against other clubs.
● PHASE D2 from 26th April: Contact training will commence (excluding scrum and maul) and adult and age grade matches can commence with adapted laws, for example, no scrum or maul.
● PHASE E1 when Step 3 of Government Roadmap is reached: Full contact training (including scrum and maul).
● PHASE E2 two weeks after E1 is achieved: Adult full contact matches, with some off field restrictions likely to still apply.
● PHASE F after Step 4 of Government Roadmap is achieved: All restrictions lifted.
With this in mind, Alec Graham, secretary at Rossendale, has revealed that the club will not be taking part in any friendlies until May for the senior team, but hopes that the youth teams will be able to participate in some form of competition.
“Although the RFU/ Government have said it’s okay to have some limited contact games after 29th March we will not be making any arrangements at senior level,” he said.
“The Juniors and Colts have plans to arrange some games with limited contact probably starting in April.
“At senior level we are looking to start training in May with a view to playing quite a few local friendliest pre-season to get players back involved before September.”