Buttler ready to continue despite ‘poor’ T20 World Cup

Jos Buttler is refusing to accept his England career is over despite admitting he had a “poor tournament” at the recent T20 World Cup.

Widely regarded as one of the outstanding white-ball batsmen of his generation, Buttler managed just 87 runs in eight innings at the tournament as England reached the semi-finals before losing to co-hosts and eventual champions India.

“Obviously I had a poor tournament, which is disappointing,” Buttler, who remains on an England and Wales central contract, said on his For the Love of Cricket podcast with former England fast bowler Stuart Broad.

“But I have been playing some of the best cricket of my (career) in recent years, so hopefully I can get back to playing my best.

“I certainly have ambitions (to play for England again), but no longer being a captain, I am not a selector and whatever, so what will be, will be.”

Buttler, 35, is set to play for Gujarat Titans in the upcoming Indian Premier League and hopes time away after the World Cup “up the mountains” in France with his family will leave him feeling reinvigorated.

“I couldn’t have been further away from cricket, which for me at the time was just perfect,” said Buttler. “It is exactly what I needed.”

“Obviously the tournament didn’t go personally how I would have liked it to go, and I just felt like I needed some space from cricket and not to think about the game, and I could not have been further away from cricket where I was in that week.”

Buttler, a member of England’s 2019 one-day international World Cup-winning team and also the skipper for their T20 triumph in Australia three years later, added: “It was really refreshing -- I really enjoyed it, a complete sort of release, and slowly but surely, I would say at the start of this week, (I am) just starting to reflect a bit and have a few thoughts about what is important to me and my cricket, and why it probably didn’t go quite as I would’ve liked.

“There’s elements that I actually don’t really know exactly. For all your best intentions and hard work and efforts to perform, it just didn’t work, and sometimes that is OK as well.

“That is something I have had to realise. It wasn’t for a lack of effort, it just didn’t quite happen.”

Pope hopeful of Test recall: England batter Ollie Pope said he remains hopeful of returning to the national test side after accepting that his omission following a poor Ashes series was the right call.

Pope was dropped after managing just 125 runs in six innings during England’s 4-1 Ashes defeat to Australia in January, with Jacob Bethell replacing him at number three for the last two tests.

“I guess I knew where I stood,” Pope said.

“Getting dropped is tough. I didn’t want to get dropped of course, but it was the right decision at the time.”

The 28-year-old, who has played 64 tests since making his red-ball debut in 2018, said he had clear communication with head coach Brendon McCullum and Director of Cricket Rob Key after losing his place.

“For me the chats were just ‘go back, score loads of runs,’” he said.

“If I’m not in that XI, can I make sure I’m the best batter in the country? I can take my game to another level, and make sure if something happens, it’s making sure I’m the man to come in.”

Agence France-Presse