England's newly appointed white-ball head coach Brendon McCullum has hailed captain Jos Buttler as the greatest ever ODI and T20I player the country has ever produced. McCullum had recently rated him higher than England's only ODI World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan.
"I think Jos has had an unbelievable career. If he were to retire tomorrow, he goes down as arguably the greatest white-ball player England has ever had. He has nothing left to prove," McCullum told Sky Sports.
Buttler who led England to the T20 World Cup 2022 title has been ruled out of the home T20I series against Australia due to calr injury. In his absence, wicketkeeper-batter Phil Salt will lead the side. The T20I series will begin on September 11 at The Rose Bowl Southampton. Buttler is likely to return for the ODI series starting September 19.
Butter under scrutiny
While head coach Matthew Mott sacked after England’s failture to reach the last four in ODI World Cup 2023 and T20 World Cup 2024, Buttler retained his position amidst criticism.
He has led England in 39 ODIs from 2016 to 2023. England have won 18 of these ODIs.
In T20Is, the 34-year-old has led England in 41 games. England have won 22 of them whereas two could not produce a result.
Change in England’s white-ball setup
Recently, veteran players Moeen Ali and Dawid Malan announced their retirement from international cricket whereas Jonny Bairstow has been dropped across formats. The former New Zealand captain understands the need to inject new blood into the side in white-ball cricket.
"I think there is a thirst for change. The one-day and T20 teams have been incredibly successful. It is in need of refreshing and bringing in some of that new talent which has probably been inspired by the very people that they are going to end up replacing," he added.
While McCullum has been appointed as head coach, he will take over from interim head coach Marcus Trescothick in January 2025 after their Caribbean tour.
England’s Playing XI for 1st T20I vs Australia
Phil Salt (c & wk), Will Jacks, Jordan Cox, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Sam Curran, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood, Reece Topley
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