Wicketkeeper was a shadow of himself – and the player England believe he is – after dropped catches and fluffed run-out chanceThe ball was one of the better ones Dom Bess had bowled. It flew in a loop and as Shan Masood lunged out it landed, bit on the pitch and spun away, moving just enough to catch the outside edge of his bat.Masood snapped his head back to watch the catch but by the time he had turned around Jos Buttler had already missed it. The ball hit the heel of the wicketkeeper’s thumb and bounced away towards slip. It all happened so quickly, the merest split-second, that the commentators were not even sure if Masood had hit it....
The ECB trumpeted this summer as a feast of cricket for England but dips in form after World Cup success are commonWhen Eoin Morgan said at the end of the World Cup group stage, during a carnival of cricket that would eventually carry his team to glory, that the experience was proving so intense that “I can’t wait to get away from a cricket field”, there will have been many sportsmen who understood precisely what he was feeling. While fans enjoy the remorseless drama of these great competitions, those actually playing them find they exact a psychological and emotional toll.In October 2018, with many of the players who starred in the World Cup in Russia that summer disappointing in the...
Enlist Jofra Archer, limit Joe Root’s options and make better use of Jos Buttler’s brain – how England might turn things roundJoe Root’s England have made a habit of losing one Test in a series. In his collection of home results, Root has a 4-1, a 3-1, a 2-1, a 1-1, and now a 0-1. The only visiting team not to get a Test off him are Ireland, who came close. The good news for the England fan, forever fretful, is that each of these home defeats has been followed by a victory. Related: Australia have a 'clear plan' how to wrap up Ashes series, says Justin Langer Continue reading...
If the selectors were taking a gamble back in May they have been vindicated by the resultsWelcome, once again, to the summer of Jos. At five minutes past two, with the skies still bruised and grey, Jos Buttler produced one of those extraordinary shots, where suddenly the basic rules of batting seem to turn a little goofy and sozzled.It came at just the right time too. England had crawled and then cantered their way to 317 for nine in the first innings of this final Test, driven there by Buttler’s resistance alongside Stuart Broad, who batted with tenacity and skill in the morning, only briefly switching into doomed drunken-scarecrow mode just before lunch. Related: Jimmy Anderson facing dissent fine after...
It has taken 38 innings for Buttler to record his maiden Test century and it was his application, not just his ball-striking, that stood outIt was not enough to earn him the nickname of St Jude – the patron saint of lost causes – but in securing his maiden Test century and ensuring that England’s experience here has not solely been one of batting ineptitude, Jos Buttler made a significant point to himself, his teammates and perhaps the wider public, too.After all, until it was trumped by that of Adil Rashid at the start of this series, the restoration of Buttler to the Test team by England’s new selection impresario, Ed Smith, in May was among the most eye-catching and...