GOING UP IN THE WORLD
Boss hails ‘unbelievable’ Buttler as one of the best on the planet
ENGLAND coach Trevor Bayliss reckons “unbelievable” Jos Buttler belongs in the same bracket as the game’s finest players.
Buttler’s latest wonder show at Old Trafford had Bayliss searching for the words to describe just how good he is after scoring 644 runs at an average of 133 in his last 10 matches.
He has moved seamlessly through T20 at the Indian Premier League, Test matches and international oneday cricket without skipping a beat.
And the England boss, who has helped the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Brendon McCullum and Steve Smith in his coaching career, believes Buttler belongs right up there with them.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Bayliss (below), probably the only Aussie delighted at a 5-0 win over the Saggy Greens. “I can’t really describe how good he is. Red ball, white ball, T20 – there are not too many better in the world at the minute.
“He’s a smart guy and one of those game players, he looks at the situation of the game and he’s a winner.
“He hates losing, not even the football matches before the start.
“Hopefully that can rub off on some of the guys higher up the order. At 114-8 we obviously stuffed up in the beginning but I think for the first time one of the guys showed the rest how we should be doing it, how we should be approaching it in that situation.
“Jos is right up there in the top echelon. A bit different to some of the guys I’ve worked with before, but he’s devastating. He can play smart cricket as well as putting his foot down when he needs to.”
As well as things are going for the one-day team, the World Cup is still a year away and after the loss to Scotland and some nervy moments in Manchester, Bayliss is adamant further improvements can be made. “We still have work to do,” he added. “If we didn’t we wouldn’t have been 114-8.
“In one way it’s a good reminder to the guys.. don’t get too comfortable with where you are at because there will be other teams striving to get better.
“And it will be difficult to stay in the form we are in.”
Bayliss revealed it was Andrew Strauss’s idea for assistant Paul Farbrace to take charge of the T20s coming up with an eye on next year when the top job becomes vacant.
“He’s had success doing it before and the more you do the more you work out what works and doesn’t work,” added Bayliss.
“If that’s what he wants to do then I’m all for it.”