I’m committed to Tests, says Buttler
JOS BUTTLER has insisted he wants to continue to play all three formats for England, and set his sights on the three-Test series in the Caribbean in March.
As Joe Root’s team prepare for the start of the fourth Test here on Wednesday, when they risk going 4-0 down to Australia, Buttler said he had made too many sacrifices to consider giving up Test cricket at the age of 31.
And that means he intends to hold on to the gloves, despite the clamour to hand wicketkeeping duties to Surrey’s Ben Foakes.
Buttler has endured a mixed tour. He has caught blinders down the leg side but dropped sitters to his right. Then, after a last-day rearguard of more than four hours at Adelaide, he was caught at deep square leg in the final over before tea on the first day at Melbourne.
That stroke alone caused many to question his stomach for the game’s longest form, and left him with a Test batting average of 32 and only two centuries from 98 innings — a perplexing ratio for a player of his talent.
But Buttler had a simple explanation for what was arguably the worst shot of the series: ‘Mid-off and mid-on were up, and I wanted to attack the spinner. In hindsight, it was a poor time to get out. But I saw that as an opportunity to score. I just didn’t execute it.’
As for the drops at Adelaide, where he put down Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, Buttler said: ‘It’s a very lonely place dropping a catch. It’s one of the worst feelings in cricket. It hurts the whole team.’
Faced with an impossibly crowded fixture list, players the world over are considering their options, with South Africa’s 29year-old wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock dismaying his compatriots this week by announcing his retirement from Test cricket.
Buttler is one of a handful of Ashes tourists who play all three international formats, as well as the ever-expanding IPL, and his wife, Louise, gave birth to their second daughter in September.
But England haven’t given up on the hope that Buttler can translate his white-ball prowess into redball success. Most importantly, he says he retains the hunger to keep playing all three formats.
‘It’s certainly my ambition,’ he said. ‘I don’t think I’d have put as much into it if it wasn’t.’
Asked if he intended to travel to the West Indies for the Test series starting on March 8, he replied: ‘I hope so.’
Buttler also reiterated the dressing room’s support for Root, who is likely to carry on as Test captain after the Ashes if he wants to. ‘We all hope he’ll want to continue.’
England’s tour suffered yet another set-back last night when it emerged that stand-in coach Adam Hollioake is unable to join the squad for the Sydney Test.
A close contact of Hollioake tested positive for Covid in the past 24 hours, ruling him out only days after he was asked to step in with other staff isolating.
England were not planning to replace Hollioake for the fourth Test last night.