Buttler must rediscover his love of the game to be hero in Galle again
Big hitter needs to find his mojo to inspire England Sri Lanka better prepared to avoid second whitewash
When England won 3-0 in Sri Lanka in 2018 Joe Root praised his team for “walking the talk” after playing “brave and bold” cricket led them to their first overseas whitewash since 1963.
Root’s squad set off for Sri Lanka tomorrow to play a two Test series that will require a different approach and test their resolve to play a patient waiting game in Test cricket.
After that 3-0 win, England moved to second in the world rankings and Root felt he had established a method in Test cricket. England scored at 3.66 an over, throwing out the theory you had to grind it out to win on the subcontinent. He described the result as “a victory we can all be very proud of for the rest of our careers” but it was not a plan for long-term success.
Sri Lanka played into England’s hands by being generous hosts. They produced turning pitches that fell apart after day two and brought England’s spinners into the game. It also took the heat and humidity out of the equation. England’s spinners outbowled Sri Lanka’s while their batting had more power and an ability to innovate when needed.
At the centre of that was Jos Buttler. The averages show Ben Foakes, Keaton Jennings and Jonny Bairstow ahead of Buttler but he played innings that affected the course of each game and it is that selfless, team-orientated mentality that has rightly earned him another chance despite his poor form.
If England had lost in South Africa then Buttler would have been dropped. But victory buys struggling players time. Dropping him would probably be the end of his Test career and now is not the right time to make such a big call on a talented player.
Foakes is a better keeper but he has not played well since he was dropped and has only just been recalled for the first time in more than a year. Jonny Bairstow’s Test batting has collapsed, and picking him ahead of Buttler would have just swapped one under-pressure player for another.
Buttler looked exhausted and flat in South Africa and England have only been at home for two weeks. Paul Farbrace, England’s former assistant coach, believes it is a case of helping him rediscover his love for cricket.
He told a group of 40 rookie cricketers at a Professional Cricketers’ Association seminar this week how even a player of Buttler’s standing sometimes needs to be reminded of the reason why he plays the game. He told them how he helped Buttler get over a dip in form at the IPL in 2017.
“I was watching the IPL on television. Jos’s shoulders were hunched and he never showed his teeth [he wasn’t smiling]. So I phoned him and asked, ‘are you enjoying it?’ He said, ‘Not really’ and I said, ‘What would your mum – who coached him when he was a boy – have said?’ And he said ‘try to enjoy it’. I said, ‘well there you are then’. He said he would go out there and try to enjoy it more. He scored five successive 50s in his next five games.” That run led to Buttler’s recall in Test cricket. Now Farbrace is worried again and believes he is struggling to recognise when to adapt his game to the situation like he did to kick-start his tour two years ago.
“I’m not saying go in and whack it. He knows he has the defence. It is a case of trusting that defence and be clear on the situation of the game and play accordingly. He has to work out what the game needs from me at this moment. It has either got to be proper defence or attack, not halfway between. But he looks down with the whole thing and if he does not score runs they are not going to be able to pick him.”
Seeing the ramparts of the Galle fort from the middle should bring fond memories for Buttler. It was there in 2018 he took the attack to the opposition when England were floundering at 103 for five in the opening session of the first Test. Sri Lanka backed off and set the tone for the series. In Kandy he was the first to recognise reverse sweeping was the way to go and knocked Sri Lanka’s spinners out of the game. On a bouncer pitch in Colombo, Buttler played straight and made 64, his highest score of the series.
The 2018 series was played in November after the monsoon season. This time England play in the hottest month of the year, and temperatures in Galle will touch 32 degrees with high humidity. England played the ODI series before the Tests on their last tour, valuable time to acclimatise. Now they have two three-day warm-up games and Jack Leach is carrying a worrying calf strain. Sri Lanka have a different coach, Mickey Arthur, who has vast experience against England. He will know better pitches that test their patience with bat and ball will be the way to go rather than raging turners. Buttler and England will have to find a different way.