England’s white-ball captain Jos Buttler, who missed the three-match T20I series against arch-rivals Australia last week due to injury, has said that he is ready to quit as wicketkeeper if that can help him improve his captaincy. Buttler, who is one of the greatest white-ball batters of all time, assumed England’s captaincy in limited-overs cricket in 2022 after Eoin Morgan announced his retirement. He led the Three Lions to the T20 World Cup title in 2022 but failed to help him defend the ODI World Cup title in 2023 and the T20 title in June 2024.
Speaking on Sky Sports during the third T20I between England and Australia on Sunday, which got washed out due to rain in Manchester, Buttler said that even if he was fit to play against Australia in the T20I series, he would not have kept the wickets.
“If I was playing in this T20 series, I was going to give up the gloves and commit to being at mid-off and seeing how that felt. Baz (Brendon McCullum) stumbled across it with an injury preventing him from keeping wicket, but then he really enjoyed being at mid-off so that’s something we can talk about. If that’s something that will really help me in my captaincy, then it’s something that I am open to,” Buttler said on Sky Sports.
“I am very open to those kinds of things. I just want what’s best for the team, and what’s best for the team is going to be me being the best captain I can be. If I have to move from behind the wickets to do that, then so be it,” he added.
Buttler, who hasn’t played for England since the T20 World Cup 2024 semi-final against India in Guyana on June 27, will miss the five-match ODI series as well against the six-time World Cup winners. In his absence, middle-order batter Harry Brook will lead the hosts for the first time in his career.
Star all-rounder Liam Livingstone, who scored 87 runs from just 47 balls in the second T20I against Australia in Cardiff on Friday (September 13), was named as his replacement.
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