Sad Jos Buttler, Sad England،
“A victory is a victory,” should have been the speech. A down-and-dirty display that, for an England team reeling from various diagnoses of #disarray, might hang on as a step in the right direction, even if it wasn't the confidence boost they were hoping for .
Instead of ultimately saying that good teams win when they play badly, Jos Buttler preferred to say: “good teams lose when they play well”.
“I thought we played very well,” Buttler said moments after England succumbed to a four-wicket defeat that saw West Indies score 113 runs off the last 61 balls of their innings. “We were positive and aggressive and put pressure on West Indies early on. Even when we were pushed back, the guys were positive enough to keep throwing punches. It took a fantastic partnership between Hope and Shepherd at the over the last 10 or 12 overs. for them to win the game.”
Two days ago, Buttler appeared before the media and listed one of his key learnings from the World Cup: the importance of taking care of your own game. Not for himself but because of the correlation between a happy Buttler and a happy England.
This is a man out of form and a team that has lost the knack of winning. Buttler contributed 3 runs from 13 balls and England missed out on a victory which, with West Indies five runs behind and with only two ODI half-centuries in their batting line-up, seemed impossible. Happy Buttler, happy England. Sad Buttler, sad England.
Since September, Buttler has struck 13 times in ODI cricket, averaging 18.84 and failing to reach 50 even once. In his last eight rounds, he has an average of 9.75. These are not selectively cut sample sizes, comprising three March ODIs, three from 2022 and three from the Kerry Packer series. This is the current form of the England captain and the best white-ball hitter in their latest block of cricket.
“I feel good, I continue to manage to get out,” Buttler said. “It's disappointing, frustrating and has lasted a lot longer than I would have liked, but only I can score my own points, I won't score any if I hide and come out not.
“You keep working hard, the only thing you can do is keep working hard, keep putting yourself out there, trust in what has served you well for a long time and hope that changes .”
Despite Buttler's comments, England produced a performance that was less than the sum of its parts, but for so long it looked like it would be enough. Everyone showed a glimpse of why they were picked, but no one had the game that would calm the nerves of this burgeoning white-ball team.
Phil Salt went down on a flyer then came out, Will Jacks played cautiously then came out, Zak Crawley came in, then fled. And so on.
However, it wasn't the stick that was the problem. Going into the series, England expected 250 to 300 shootouts on wickets that turned strongly and had variable bounce. And on a wicket that was turning strongly and had variable bounce, they made 325, largely thanks to a fine innings of 71 from Harry Brook. This looked way above average.
Of course, the failure to defend 325 cannot be solely blamed on the personal form of a struggling captain. But a leader's struggles are often borne by his followers.
England's new trio failed to perform, with only Gus Atkinson, who took 2 for 62, returning figures he won't wince at tomorrow morning. Brydon Carse went for eights and took just one wicket, while Sam Curran's 0 for 98 is the worst ODI figure for an England bowler in history. In the penultimate bowling, Curran was smashed for three sixes over deep midwicket by Shai Hope, in a triple knock which gave him the record, Hope a century and West Indies victory.
It was a painful evening for Curran, who was named as England's new spinner after the World Cup. But since the start of the New Zealand series in September, he has played seven ODIs and taken four wickets at an average of 80.5 and conceded his runs at a score as low as eight.
“For 40 overs, we did brilliantly well,” Buttler said, defending his bowling group. “It's always a hallmark of West Indian cricket that they were excellent six-hitters and managed to find the rope when they needed to. We did a lot of things well with bat and ball, we “We just haven't been able to close it out. A little bit of execution here and there or we need to change our plans a little bit.”
Overall, Buttler's comments tonight are the best indication that we truly are in a new era. The team is new to the format, new as a group and in no need of a public bullshit from their skipper, even though they let slip a win that, for all intents and purposes, should have been a routine.
But this is no longer Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United. Buttler may seem strange to the public praising a team that lost in this manner, but he would have seemed even more cruel in private if he had returned to his dressing room of twenty-somethings on their first trip together after saying they were all shit.
It's good. And undoubtedly good leadership. It's just that when you lose this aura and start to rebuild it, there is no guarantee that it will come back. David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erik ten Hag can attest to this.
