No regrets for Jos Buttler as England take long-term strategy in closing ODI defeat

With a 2-0 lead already secured from the Dhaka leg, England had already turn out to be the primary away group to win a bilateral ODI sequence in Bangladesh since Buttler himself oversaw a 2-1 win in 2016-17.

Despite limiting Bangladesh to 246 in one other spectacular bowling show, by which Rehan was the one participant to serve up his full allocation of ten overs, England had been finally undone by the confirmed wiles of Shakib Al Hasan, who top-scored with 75 from 71 balls earlier than stifling the run-chase with the advantageous figures of 4 for 35, together with his three hundredth in ODI cricket.

“Those numbers speak for themselves, don’t they?” Buttler, England’s white-ball captain, stated. “Playing against him, you know what a great challenge it is. If you go back to the 2019 World Cup, his performances were outstanding. He’s a brilliant player.”

Buttler, nonetheless, was undeterred by the loss, and insisted that the character of England’s wins within the first two video games – particularly the hard-fought centuries from Dawid Malan within the first sport and Jason Roy within the second – had given his group ample pointers as to the strategy that might show profitable on related wickets in India this winter.

“We changed a few things today and gave an opportunity to people in different ways, but I thought the intensity was still there,” Buttler stated. “We certainly believed we could win the game, and if we played well enough, we would have won the game.

“But there was a possibility in the present day to present Rehan a debut, and for Sam to bat at No. 5, and that is the final ODI we play now till September. So, particularly in these circumstances, it felt like an excellent likelihood to collect as a lot data as we will, and expose individuals to totally different conditions. If we misplaced the sport, then so be it. But I actually believed we had a group and a efficiency that might have gained the sport in the present day.”

Buttler’s phlegmatic attitude reflects an ODI cycle in which England have consistently struggled to field their first-choice XI. Rehan’s selection made him the 39th different player that they’ve used in 36 matches since their victory in the 2019 final, while England’s record in that period, 18 wins and 15 losses, is similarly hit and miss.

However, Buttler added that England’s victory in the T20 World Cup in Australia before Christmas – which was achieved in spite of a similarly disrupted build-up – had given him confidence that the squad that comes together in India in seven months’ time will be able to call upon similar experience to overcome their lack of physical preparation.

“I feel the schedule is massively difficult to at all times get your finest XI on the sector,” Buttler said. “But the sport has modified a bit [since] the earlier cycle of the World Cup.

“Looking back to the T20 World Cup, we probably went into that World Cup having never played our perceived best XI. But then to get into the tournament and go on to win it, that gives you great confidence that, even though we haven’t had the opportunities to always play our best team, international cricket has become [more] focused on the ICC tournaments. I think that’s the way we’re building towards that. And we know that, come the World Cup, we will have the opportunity to pick from everyone who’s available.”

England’s first-choice batting unit has been particularly depleted in current months, with Ben Stokes retiring from 50-over cricket as a result of relentless calls for on England’s multi-format gamers, and Joe Root additionally absent from this tour due to the conflict with the current Test sequence in New Zealand. Had he not already been dominated out with a damaged leg, Jonny Bairstow would even have missed this tour for a similar causes.

And so, this third ODI was arguably of biggest significance to the likes of Phil Salt and Vince, two of the batters who would seem likeliest to make manner in a full-strength squad. Salt was visibly livid with himself when he didn’t convert a brilliant begin of 35 from 25 balls right into a extra substantial efficiency, whereas Vince’s 38 from 44 balls was a equally unfulfilled show.

“Everyone is desperate to play well, whether you’re an established player or whether you’re someone who’s potentially seen as on the fringes,” Buttler stated. “We know there’s huge quality in those guys, and it’s great to expose them to these conditions but, I think, if you’re looking at the game today, we needed someone to go on and really take ownership of that chase.

“One nice studying is, while you lose a few wickets in clusters in these sorts of circumstances, it is a good time for the opposition to essentially squeeze you and you are feeling beneath stress. So while you take a look at the primary two video games, Malan taking the sport throughout and Jason Roy taking part in an extended innings to attain 100, yeah, we perhaps simply missed somebody in the present day happening and taking part in that match-defining innings.”

Buttler insisted that England had not lacked “depth” in their performance, but acknowledged that they had taken the “alternative” of the dead-rubber scenario to experiment with their options. This included giving Rehan a full quota of overs (England’s eventual player of the series, Adil Rashid, bowled just five) while Curran was given the chance to respond to a tricky situation with the bat, after a 54-run opening stand between Roy and Salt crumbled with the loss of three wickets in the space of eight balls.

“He does not lack confidence,” Buttler said, after Rehan – at 18 years and 205 days – had struck with the final ball of his spell for the debut figures of 1 for 62. “He’s very trusting in his capability, which is implausible for a younger man, and he was keen to bowl to very aggressive fields and problem himself, which is a good signal shifting ahead. For a man on debut, I believed he dealt with himself brilliantly nicely.

“We are blessed with a lot of allrounders in our squad, and it felt like today was a good chance to use them all,” Buttler added. “I see huge potential in Sam Curran’s batting and today there was an opportunity for him to get higher up the order. So yeah, that’s the thinking behind it.

“We performed some actually good cricket all through the sequence, and I’ve spoken so much about these being nice circumstances for us to problem ourselves in.

“These are probably the conditions that we would find the hardest as a team. Bangladesh are a tough side to beat in their own conditions. So to win the series, there’s plenty to learn. Things that we’ve done well and areas that we can also improve.”