Image Source- PA Photos
As England looks to give their senior players as many
opportunities as possible to find form ahead of the World Cup, Jos Buttler has
acknowledged that Jason Roy and possibly even Joe Root could be added to the
ODI squad to play Ireland next week. This comes after England’s series victory
over New Zealand raised more questions than it did answers.
Dawid Malan’s performances at the top of the order
earned him Player of the Series honours for his total of 277 runs at 92.33, and
Ben Stokes demonstrated that a year away from the format had done him no harm
by registering England’s highest individual score with an astounding 182 from
124 balls at the Kia Oval.
But Roy was conspicuously absent from all four games
since he was unable to stake a claim for the starting position that had seemed
to be reserved for him due to a string of back spasms. And Root, another player
who hadn’t played in an ODI since July 2022, suffered mightily with his rhythm
throughout the entire series. He scored 6, 0, and 4 runs in the first three
games before scoring a shaky 29 from 40 runs at Lord’s, where he was twice
dropped in the single digits.
After Friday’s 100-run triumph over Australia at
Lord’s, Buttler reaffirmed the careful balance that has led to England’s
dominance in white-ball cricket since 2015. While he agreed that the present
squad, with an average age of 32, had a “Dad’s Army” vibe, he
emphasised that giving established performers room to grow was essential if the
team was to be free to play the broad, fearless cricket that has become its
trademark.
“We’ve tried to be a really loyal team and
selection panel throughout,” Buttler said. “It’s something Eoin
Morgan and Trevor Bayliss started. If you ask people to play in an aggressive
way, then leave them out as soon as it goes wrong, it sends the wrong message.
We’re asking people to take risks so there will be failures along the way.
We’ve reaped the rewards of being consistent with selection so, certainly, you
take whole picture in. You can’t just pick a World Cup squad from these four
games.
“I wouldn’t call it ‘Dad’s Army’ but we’re an
aging group,” he added. “We’ve got a lot of experience in the format,
so it won’t take quite as long to get back to feeling completely at home in
50-over cricket.”