The Jos Buttler thread: a modern-day potential great but needs to be backed in all formats

He's had so many chances. He may look fluent, but he lacks the most important attribute for any test batsmen; determination and concentration

That concentration is the most important aspect he doesn't have. You can be playing fluent lovely cricket for 3 hours but as soon as you switch off for one delivery you're done. He can barely keep a proper technique for 30 minutes, before he plays a wild shot, or leaves a gate as wide as the Brandenburg, or doesn't move his feet and fishes outside the off stump.

He's a great white-ball player, but he's had consistent chances in Test cricket and he hasn't cut it, it's time to move on.
 
He is an exceptional talent.
This will be a big plus for us, if he does not play against us.
 
As overrated as he has been in Test Cricket due to his ODI performances, I must admit as a Pakistan fan, I would be happier seeing Foakes come out to bat as opposed to Butler.
 
Now is the time to try Foakes. Buttler has had enough time to prove himself in tests and he has failed. In the early part of his career he should have been given this time in tests. When you haven't played much red ball cricket in your 20s it's unlikely you will adapt.

At 24/25 he should have been given the type of run he has been given now. He may still not have proved himself to be a test player but he would have had a better chance than he has now.
 
Foakes has been quite average in county cricket so bairstow will be a better pick.
Bairstow is also a much better keeper than buttler.
 
He is an incredibly talented cricketer and if I was the England selector, I would make sure he plays every single game and not take note of the external pressure and calls of dropping him.

In my opinion, he is a once in many generations cricketer and England have already wasted/squandered his potential in Test cricket. They should not repeat the same mistakes they have made in the past.

He is a bit short on confidence. Let’s not forget the impact he had made on the side on his return to Test cricket in 2018.

I would actually go one step forward and make him the Test captain. I believe that captaincy responsibility would spur him to greater heights and basically have the opposite effect on him compared to Root.
 
He is an incredibly talented cricketer and if I was the England selector, I would make sure he plays every single game and not take note of the external pressure and calls of dropping him.

In my opinion, he is a once in many generations cricketer and England have already wasted/squandered his potential in Test cricket. They should not repeat the same mistakes they have made in the past.

He is a bit short on confidence. Let’s not forget the impact he had made on the side on his return to Test cricket in 2018.

I would actually go one step forward and make him the Test captain. I believe that captaincy responsibility would spur him to greater heights and basically have the opposite effect on him compared to Root.
So you want to make joss butler England's captain? The bloke whose averaging 24 in last 2 years. Take of your tinted glasses and see the reality. He had 1 hundred in 30 odd tests. You want the selectors to give him 100 tests just to find his confidence? Its not as if he has performed lower than what he was supposed to do. Joss averages 31 in first class cricket after playing more than a 100 games. Comparing ab to butler is like comparing tim paine to adam gilchrist. Ab is a proven performer in tests while butler is just potential. Ab averaged 57 in test cricket as a wicket keeper.
For me joss butler has almost reached his potential in test cricket. He doesnt have the temprament neither the technique to survive in test cricket.
One last thing , your thinking that butler is as good as AB goes to how biased you are towards England. Funny thing is you are are coming out with these gems often now. Just the last week Jofra Archer became the best fast baller on the Planet by performing well in the ashes. Anyone who has watched both AB and butler play will know how superior AB . Not only AB's hitting game is better but he is 100 times a better batsman. Its quite funny that Ed Smith played Butler as a batsman alone in a few tests. Looks like Butler knows an awful secret of Ed Smith
 
[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION]. Given that Root, Stokes, Archer, Buttler are all some of the best test players in the world, why does England lose so much
 
Foakes has been quite average in county cricket so bairstow will be a better pick.
Bairstow is also a much better keeper than buttler.

Foakes is the best keeper in England.

Bairstow averages 25 in tests in the last two years, he keeps getting clean bowled.
 
Foakes is the best keeper in England.

Bairstow averages 25 in tests in the last two years, he keeps getting clean bowled.
Foakes might be the best keeper but he is not a good batsman and didn't do well in the last season.
Amidst all the criticism he is getting I haven't seen jos buttler drop significant chances and i believe england need their keeper to score runs, so i think sticking with bairstow or buttler will be better.
 
If Buttler doesn’t get a score in this match or the next one, then I think he is as good as done in Tests. Definitely close to pulling into the last chance saloon.

A truly great LOI player, of that there is no doubt at all, but he’s possibly just not built for Tests. Some people are just not, and there is no shame in this.
 
[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION]. Given that Root, Stokes, Archer, Buttler are all some of the best test players in the world, why does England lose so much

They don’t though, they are consistently ranked in the top 3-4 and have won plenty of big series and haven’t lost at home since 2014.

But they have had a bit of dip in form lately because Root and Buttler are going through a lean patch.

However in general, they are disadvantaged compared to India and Australia because they don’t have proper home advantage.
 
Reasonable innings but really should have gone past 50


Buttler c Alzarri Joseph b Holder 40(79) [4s-4]
 
[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION]. Given that Root, Stokes, Archer, Buttler are all some of the best test players in the world, why does England lose so much

BIG LOL @ buttler being one of the best test players in the world, he is extremely lucky he's still in the side
 
Struggled today.

Played and missed, scratched around.

Footwork looked all over the place.
 
he should retire from test cricket.He is awful really really awful.i don't understand why they are forcing him to become test player.He is not good enough.
 
Butler is'nt batting really well but a point people forget is that he is also a wicket keeper. So he cant really average high. He is no AB but aI think he should be given a longer rope. He can average close to 40 in the long run. He just has to take inspiration from stokes. Stokes despite having all the strokes plays with patience. One last thing, he must work on his technique
 
Foakes has not been doing any good in county season so England are persisting with Buttler and rightly so.

Buttler has a ceiling of 40 test average once he establishes himself in test arena. Foakes don't have in him to average more than 30.

England are doing a fine job by persisting with Buttler as they don't have mid 2010s version of Bairstow who was actually the best of the lot and showed plenty of improvement in his keeping.
 
Looks a shadow of himself as a Test batsman in comparison to how good a player he is in ODI cricket.

Should just focus on Limited overs cricket like Jason Roy
 
Kamran Akmal averages 30 in Tests for Pakistan in 50 Tests
Butler after 40 Tests averages 31

Make what you want out of this comparison.
 
He was impressive the year he made his return, but has regressed big time since then. Not all players are all format players - England should only use him in LOI's.
 
Foakes has not been doing any good in county season so England are persisting with Buttler and rightly so.

Buttler has a ceiling of 40 test average once he establishes himself in test arena. Foakes don't have in him to average more than 30.

England are doing a fine job by persisting with Buttler as they don't have mid 2010s version of Bairstow who was actually the best of the lot and showed plenty of improvement in his keeping.

he has had chances to establish himself. Maybe he just doesn't have the ability
Foakes could easily average 35, not flashy but gets the job done, and a better keeper
 
Reasonable innings but really should have gone past 50


Buttler c Alzarri Joseph b Holder 40(79) [4s-4]

He had been aluded for his ability to accelerate, so this was poor. Came in at an easy time and did nothing to increase England's chances of winning the match
 
he has had chances to establish himself. Maybe he just doesn't have the ability
Foakes could easily average 35, not flashy but gets the job done, and a better keeper

He has been poor in the county season which is why England are persisting with Buttler. But ofcourse, Buttler has to perform and I see this series as his last chance to deliver.
 
He is no great he is only good in odis even in t20is he averages 26 which is not good enough.He is just awful in tests.
 
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Kamran Akmal averages 30 in Tests for Pakistan in 50 Tests
Butler after 40 Tests averages 31

Make what you want out of this comparison.

Kamran happened to be the worst keeper ever to play international cricket and his dropped catches cost Pakistan many matches. Not to mention his terrible fitness and attitude.

If Kamran averaged 50 and Butler averaged 20, most people (including me) would still pick Butler.

So not a relevant comparison.
 
Only time will tell if he was a better keeper batsman than Kamran Akmal in tests
 
Only time will tell if he was a better keeper batsman than Kamran Akmal in tests

Let’s not get carried away. Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad are probably better batsmen than Kami.

I think Kami and Yasir would be a good comparison.
 
Let’s not get carried away. Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad are probably better batsmen than Kami.

I think Kami and Yasir would be a good comparison.

Kami has 6 test 100s in 53 matches and even saved a match for Pakistan. Not sure what Buttler has in his test CV other than one impressive 100.

In terms of keeping obviously Kami was mediocre.

Either you are over rating Buttler’s test batting or under rating Kami’s test batting ability. If Buttler can end up with 6 test 100s it would be an achievement.
 
Kami has 6 test 100s in 53 matches and even saved a match for Pakistan. Not sure what Buttler has in his test CV other than one impressive 100.

In terms of keeping obviously Kami was mediocre.

Either you are over rating Buttler’s test batting or under rating Kami’s test batting ability. If Buttler can end up with 6 test 100s it would be an achievement.

Afridi has 5 test 100s in just 27 matches. What exactly does that one fact tell you?

Butler probably won’t end up with 6 hundreds because England will drop him soon if he carries on like this. Only in Pakistan would an atrocious keeper like Akmal combined with a 20s average after HUNDREDS of international games would be given chances.

Butler deserves a long rope because he clearly has the talent in and has performed in other formats. Akmal was crap at everything.

The test match he ‘saved’ was purely due to luck. It was impossible to bat with the new ball but then an absolute road after 10/15 overs. Hence why the likes of Shoaib, razzaq, irfan Pathan etc outscored tendulker, Laxman, yousuf etc. Most overrated innings in the history of cricket.
 
Sarfaraz Ahmed has an average of 36 and a strike rate of 71 after 49 Tests. He was dropped from Pakistan and it doesn’t look like he is coming back anytime soon

41 Tests is a lot of Test matches to learn the trade. Life is very different with a red dukes ball and no fielding restrictions. It is sad that England’s ATG one day batsman is very mediocre in Test cricket.
 
Afridi has 5 test 100s in just 27 matches. What exactly does that one fact tell you?

Butler probably won’t end up with 6 hundreds because England will drop him soon if he carries on like this. Only in Pakistan would an atrocious keeper like Akmal combined with a 20s average after HUNDREDS of international games would be given chances.

Butler deserves a long rope because he clearly has the talent in and has performed in other formats. Akmal was crap at everything.

The test match he ‘saved’ was purely due to luck. It was impossible to bat with the new ball but then an absolute road after 10/15 overs. Hence why the likes of Shoaib, razzaq, irfan Pathan etc outscored tendulker, Laxman, yousuf etc. Most overrated innings in the history of cricket.

I am not sure about who Kamran's competitors were at the time, but he came into the team post the Rashid Latif and Moin Khan era, both of whom averaged in the 20s with the bat. So standards for Pakistani WKs were fairly low with the bat, that's for sure.

He was a decent enough batsman on flat tracks and in Asia but he averages something like 13 in 15 Tests in England and Australia which sums up his career. He did play a couple of great innings. Even if you don't rate the Karachi innings, there were a couple of others, but he simply wasn't good enough to perform in a variety of conditions.

Buttler has strong competition with the likes of Foakes and even Bairstow who was – despite his struggles – faring better than this, I think.
 
I am not sure about who Kamran's competitors were at the time, but he came into the team post the Rashid Latif and Moin Khan era, both of whom averaged in the 20s with the bat. So standards for Pakistani WKs were fairly low with the bat, that's for sure.

He was a decent enough batsman on flat tracks and in Asia but he averages something like 13 in 15 Tests in England and Australia which sums up his career. He did play a couple of great innings. Even if you don't rate the Karachi innings, there were a couple of others, but he simply wasn't good enough to perform in a variety of conditions.

Buttler has strong competition with the likes of Foakes and even Bairstow who was – despite his struggles – faring better than this, I think.

We will never know because Kamran had such incredibly strong backing, we did not give anyone else a chance. Sarfaraz was always disregarded because apparently he was a tailender. Any chance that he was given would be short lived, shoehorned down the order in limited overs etc. Even Zulqarnain in his brief stint showed more ability than Akmal.

The point is - Butler is a sharp keeper. Probably slightly above average. His batting has huge potential and he has been superb in other formats. In combination - that is enough to give him an extended chance. Foakes and Bairstow do not have the same pontential that Butler does hence they won’t get the same rope.

Now Kami was a terrible keeper. Probably the worst to ever play international cricket. He lost us countless games dropping hundreds of basic catches. He also deliberately underperformed as can be seen in the Sydney Test. He also had poor fitness and a terrible attitude. When someone is that bad - you could argue they should stay in the team as a specialist batsman. However despite what people said - his batting was also incredibly rubbish. True he did play a few innings of substance - but he was given Hundreds of chances. He struggled to to average in the high 20s and his strike rate was mehh - even for the 1990-2010 era. So on what basis would he be in the team as the first choice keeper for hundreds of matches? If Butler gets some form, he may even be kept in the team as a batsman. It never happened to Kami because he wasnt good enough but why then was he able to stay as wicket keeper when he was even worse in that discipline?
 
So Butler’s FC average after 107 games is 32, with 6 hundreds

Not sure what England are expecting him to become? They either accept that this man could play a hundred Tests with an average hovering around the 30 mark or they look for an alternative.
 
Afridi has 5 test 100s in just 27 matches. What exactly does that one fact tell you?

Butler probably won’t end up with 6 hundreds because England will drop him soon if he carries on like this. Only in Pakistan would an atrocious keeper like Akmal combined with a 20s average after HUNDREDS of international games would be given chances.

Not sure how Afridi came into discussion. He retired because he wasn’t interested in the format otherwise his stats were pretty good for an all rounder at test level.

Buttler only has 6 100s in FC cricket in 107 matches. What does that stat tell you?

Buttler has already played 42 tests in comparison to Kami’s 52 tests. How many tests does he need according to you to produce more big scores? Don’t remember a keeper batsman playing 40+ test with just one big score and that also due to “luck”(As we can use the word anywhere so why not) in the modern era. Had a highest score of 29 in 7 innings he played in SA in his last tour so he is struggling in overseas conditions as well along with lack of consistency at home.

107 FC matches with 6 100s is a pretty big sample size to show any hidden red ball ability. Also not sure what exactly exactly the kind of talent you are talking about. He obviously is a beast in LOIs but his technical deficiencies in at test level are pretty visible. Unless he improves big time somehow I dont see how long he can keep his spot in test cricket for.
 
I can't believe india let this fraud mediocre batsman win England a test match when india last toured away. What a joke.
 
Can’t prove, so I should have kept silent; but couldn’t resist.

Had this guy JB debuted in ODI at the same time of Moin Khan - his ODI stats would have been inferior to Moin.

All time great ..... that term is becoming cheaper than velpuri at Clifton beach.
 
Sarfaraz Ahmed has an average of 36 and a strike rate of 71 after 49 Tests. He was dropped from Pakistan and it doesn’t look like he is coming back anytime soon

41 Tests is a lot of Test matches to learn the trade. Life is very different with a red dukes ball and no fielding restrictions. It is sad that England’s ATG one day batsman is very mediocre in Test cricket.

He's no ATG in ODIs either with a batting average of 40
 
Averaging over 40 at a strike rate of 120 in ODIs is insane.

Not in an era when average scores are 325. He is the biggest beneficiary of revised ODI playing conditions, particularly ECB hosted ODIs.
 
Jos Buttler is going through a very difficult spell right now and could somewhat define his test career. He will probably be given one more test match to save his Test career. Despite this, take nothing away from his White-ball credentials and how a brutal batsman he can be.

From the looks of it, he's struggling to adapt to the test cricket format.
 
Suggests that India are really awful!

suggests that toss makes a huge difference in SENA, where even a mediocre can fodder like buttler can make an impact.

But yeah india also sucks when they lose the toss away from home in SENA.
 
My theory is that Butler’s head is currently not in the game or his confidence is extremely low. He didn’t appeal when the ball snicked Blackwood’s bat, only to be saved by a list millisecond review by Root. He also didn’t appeal at the Brooks caught behind off Woakes’s bowling.

I don’t think it will cost them the game but it goes to show how severely he is under pressure.
 
My theory is that Butler’s head is currently not in the game or his confidence is extremely low. He didn’t appeal when the ball snicked Blackwood’s bat, only to be saved by a list millisecond review by Root. He also didn’t appeal at the Brooks caught behind off Woakes’s bowling.

I don’t think it will cost them the game but it goes to show how severely he is under pressure.

Agreed I just dont think hes good enough for tests cricket he should be stating to captain we need to review
 
Jos Buttler is going through a very difficult spell right now and could somewhat define his test career. He will probably be given one more test match to save his Test career. Despite this, take nothing away from his White-ball credentials and how a brutal batsman he can be.

From the looks of it, he's struggling to adapt to the test cricket format.

Agreed some plays can be legends in 1 format even thou they tried to play 3
 
Not sure how Afridi came into discussion. He retired because he wasn’t interested in the format otherwise his stats were pretty good for an all rounder at test level.

Buttler only has 6 100s in FC cricket in 107 matches. What does that stat tell you?

Buttler has already played 42 tests in comparison to Kami’s 52 tests. How many tests does he need according to you to produce more big scores? Don’t remember a keeper batsman playing 40+ test with just one big score and that also due to “luck”(As we can use the word anywhere so why not) in the modern era. Had a highest score of 29 in 7 innings he played in SA in his last tour so he is struggling in overseas conditions as well along with lack of consistency at home.

107 FC matches with 6 100s is a pretty big sample size to show any hidden red ball ability. Also not sure what exactly exactly the kind of talent you are talking about. He obviously is a beast in LOIs but his technical deficiencies in at test level are pretty visible. Unless he improves big time somehow I dont see how long he can keep his spot in test cricket for.

The comparison with Afridi was mentioned as he is someone who is regarded as very inconsistent - especially batting wise. Although he was a match winner - he would not have been selected for his batting alone. Yet he outperformed Akmal and also scored lots of centuries - that doesnt make either of them good Test batsmen.

Butler's performance has been below par, no doubt about it. But playing 40 matches with an average of 31 for a keeper who is doing well at their primary job AND has supreme talent with the bat that he's shown in other formats, is not that bad that he should be dropped.

If either of those two points didn't apply then it would make sense to drop him immediately. For example - if his keeping was rubbish then he shouldn't play. Or if he had never performed in international cricket.

As to how many matches - if he continues to average around 31, then I would give him another year before trying the alternatives.
 
Can’t prove, so I should have kept silent; but couldn’t resist.

Had this guy JB debuted in ODI at the same time of Moin Khan - his ODI stats would have been inferior to Moin.

All time great ..... that term is becoming cheaper than velpuri at Clifton beach.

You can say the same about Rohit Sharma ,if he debuted in 90s he would have inferior stats to Navjot Sidhu but the fact is that it's agreed that a great player in any era would be great in any other era.
He would have a different technique and style of play if he debuted in the 90s.
Otherwise we could say that Jack Hobbs would have averaged 10 in this era had he played with that technique
 
Suggests that India are really awful!

Bit u fair Rob brother I think out bowling during last English test series was quite good. Batting let us down in key moments.

This thread is going through extremes though.Jos Butler is a talented player. I think just before 2019 world cup he was being spoken of in the league og Kohli, Warner as among the biggest ODI superstars, and rightly so, he was really going through some great form.

I love watching him bat. Wish he gets among the runs soon.
 
Averaging over 40 at a strike rate of 120 in ODIs is insane.

That makes him a good player during.

Not even a great of the game or an ATG. Where's the hurry. Let him have a proper 200-25O ODIs career before tags like these are thrown around casually.

Kind of disrespectful to guys with 300-350 even 400+ ODIs if T20 batsmen are going to be hauled as legends with couple of years of good form.
 
He is an okay test player with the potential of being good. He is a great ODI and T20 player, he should stick with that. How many players are great in all three formats? Specifically spinners and batsmen struggle to be great in all 3, it's best to stick to 2 formats at most unless you are like AB, Bumrah or Ajmal
 
That makes him a good player during.

Not even a great of the game or an ATG. Where's the hurry. Let him have a proper 200-25O ODIs career before tags like these are thrown around casually.

Kind of disrespectful to guys with 300-350 even 400+ ODIs if T20 batsmen are going to be hauled as legends with couple of years of good form.

He debuted 8 and a half years ago, it's not like he's built up the record he has through a flash in the pan over a couple of years.
 
You can say the same about Rohit Sharma ,if he debuted in 90s he would have inferior stats to Navjot Sidhu but the fact is that it's agreed that a great player in any era would be great in any other era.
He would have a different technique and style of play if he debuted in the 90s.
Otherwise we could say that Jack Hobbs would have averaged 10 in this era had he played with that technique

Actually it’s not the case for batting. Sharma would have been a top Indian wicket bully even in 90s - reason, his basics of playing spin & medium pace is great, his defence is good. He could have a 20-25% discount on his stats, but still a very good player.

Problem for JB is that his defensive game is too poor, which is not been exposed for the playing conditions these days, which is allowing him to keep on batting for long, hence that average of 40+

I can name one player of 90s - Ramesh Kalu, the Lankan WK. He was a stunning stroke maker, blasted Aussie pacers in Australia; yet ended up with an average of 20, because in those playing conditions of 200-225 per scores, you’ll get tougher challenge (read wicket taking ball) in almost alternate ball. Butler could have maintained a very good SR even in 90s (not 120, for that you need to pull the boundary line in, no reverse swing, compressed heavy bats and machine stitched balls that hardly swings after few overs, doesn’t spin much either), but his average would have suffered a major hit.

At the same time, 25 years down the line with current playing conditions, Ramesh Kalu won’t have managed 120 SR (he doesn’t have the physical attributes for that), but he would have averaged significantly higher with a very good SR. Unless you consider the context, comparing ODI stats of different era will be misleading.

JB is a brilliant LO player for the era he is playing, which I do agree.
 
He debuted 8 and a half years ago, it's not like he's built up the record he has through a flash in the pan over a couple of years.

141 ODIs and not even 4k runs yet.

How is that an ATG level career.
 
Don't get how giving the captaincy will improve Buttler in tests. His problems are technical and mentally. Giving him the captaincy won't do anything.

Root is doing a good job as captain. He hasn't always been in the best form with the bat, but I haven't seen much wrong with his leadership.
 
141 ODIs and not even 4k runs yet.

How is that an ATG level career.

I think it’s more to do with him being an England ODI ATG, as they don’t really have any besides Flintoff who could be considered a great. But in terms of ATGs of all nations, he has a long long way to go and will need to be a core element in ensuring more trophies.
 
I think it’s more to do with him being an England ODI ATG, as they don’t really have any besides Flintoff who could be considered a great. But in terms of ATGs of all nations, he has a long long way to go and will need to be a core element in ensuring more trophies.

Even Flintoff is a stretch. He was great in his purple patch but his overall career as an ODI cricketer is ayt. Nothing legendary about it.

This is a great English generation of cricketers though. A lot of them should really retire as ODI heavyweights which a lot of their predecessors didn't manage.

Bairstow, Stokes, Jos, Root, Morgan they are all on the path already. Wish them luck
 
Buttler played a pivotal role in England winning the World Cup final.

I agree with [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] on persisting with him. He is a match winner once he gets going.
 
Buttler played a pivotal role in England winning the World Cup final.

I agree with [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] on persisting with him. He is a match winner once he gets going.

You want to persist with him brcause you fear you might fear you will be proven wrong. 6 hundreds in 100 odd tests is laughable
 
You want to persist with him brcause you fear you might fear you will be proven wrong. 6 hundreds in 100 odd tests is laughable

Wicket keeper batsmen don't hit 15 test hundreds in 100 tests. Alan Knott hit 5 hundreds in 95 tests but was a phenomenal keeper. Dhoni hit 6 hundreds in 90 tests.

Buttler will have a typical England career where he will have a 1.5-2 year period when he will win games not just with bat but with gloves as well and I see that coming soon. He is a match winner who delivers when mattered like he did in the high pressure World Cup final amidst the collapse and this is why England are persisting with him.

If this was some other low profile cricketer who had played the knock that JB played in finals, he would have been already hailed as ATG and Man for Big Moments.
 
Buttler played a pivotal role in England winning the World Cup final.

I agree with [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] on persisting with him. He is a match winner once he gets going.

Yes that's based on odis and t20s in tests hes not done anyfink of note
 
Jos Buttler 56* - doing well so far in 3rd Test
 
England's Jos Buttler says he has felt under pressure after lean run with the bat in Test cricket

Jos Buttler told Sky Sports he has been feeling under pressure after a lean run with the bat prior to the third #raisethebat Test against West Indies at Emirates Old Trafford.

The England wicketkeeper scored just his second fifty in 24 innings on day one of the series decider in Manchester, reaching 56 not out by stumps.

Buttler added 11 runs to his overnight score before being dismissed by Shannon Gabriel on day two - but, before play, he spoke to Michael Atherton about playing under the spotlight and how he deals with chat about his place across social media.

"Naturally [I was fretting]. I think time in the middle gives you confidence and I haven't been doing that," said Buttler, currently amid his 44th Test.

"When you are not performing as well as you want, you realise you are not doing your job as well as you should do for the team.

"I am definitely feeling that pressure - I have played long enough now to understand when the pressure comes on your shoulders and hopefully the best way to deal with it.

"Twitter and Instagram are two things I am on but I don't have the settings on where I can see what people are saying about me.

"When I started it was understanding the media pressures of newspapers etc but now you have social media. It is a big challenge of international cricket at the moment.

"I am aware it is there and that people will have been talking about my game but [reading it] doesn't help me play better. I need to focus on myself and the processes that allow me to play well.

"Whether you're playing well or badly there are always going to be people talking about you on social media - it's about understanding it's not as big as you may think it is in the grand scheme of things.

"I try and remind myself that when I watch a game of football and make a throwaway comment about a bad pass or someone missing an open goal, it's no different to people talking about my game."

Buttler averages over 40 in one-day international cricket with his nine centuries including England's two fastest in the format, off 46 and 50 balls against Pakistan.

But he says he knows he must adapt his game in Test cricket and has been working hard on his defence and playing the on-drive in practice.

"Lots of people expect me to play a certain way because of the way I play in one-day cricket but I've never seen Test cricket that way - I don't think it's necessarily possible to play in that fashion," added Buttler, whose sole Test ton to date came against India at Trent Bridge in 2018.

"[Trusting my defence] is incredibly important. Anytime I've had success in Test cricket it's been based around that. I must have enough trust in myself and my defence.

"It's something I work hard on preparing for Test matches. Also leaving the ball well - when I'm doing that, that's when I feel at my best.

"I spent a lot of time in the nets before this game hitting on-drives - it's probably the hardest shot for me to hit. To practice that gives me a lot of confidence and focuses my balance and head position.

"Everything needs to be in good working order for me to be able to hit on-drives and that allows the rest of the game to play."
https://www.skysports.com/cricket/n...e-after-lean-run-with-the-bat-in-test-cricket
 
Spot on. In a way, a series decider.

That’s why you keep picking someone like Butler, even when the stats don’t quite justify it.

As a Pakistan fan though, this sucks. I would much rather he had failed and then seen Foakes walk out to bat against us next week.
 
His innings probably won England the series.

Yea I know. Fans here are a bit fickle though. one moment he sucks, next moment when he performs in one particular innings, he is too calibre.

I am a bit ambivalent about him. Not sure what to think of this boy. He is either very good or terrible.
 
Yea I know. Fans here are a bit fickle though. one moment he sucks, next moment when he performs in one particular innings, he is too calibre.

I am a bit ambivalent about him. Not sure what to think of this boy. He is either very good or terrible.

Agreed. I don’t think he will become an ATG in test cricket personally. But he’s shown enough in international cricket to get a very long rope. And the people comparing his record with the likes of Kamran Akmal to justify him being dropped clearly don’t know anything about cricket.
 
It's already a big innings for Buttler, says MIKE ATHERTON - the England man well and truly under the microscope as this Test progresses...

"He's under the microscope because of his keeping, not necessarily because of his batting - he got runs in the last game.

"But he missed three chances with the gloves, two of which he'd probably hope to take; they weren't entirely straightforward.

"But when he missed the third one yesterday with a horrible snatch at the ball you rather felt his confidence draining away.

"No matter how mentally strong you are he will know coming to the ground today that he owed England some runs."
 
Good patient knock against a top quality bowling attack. He will do very well in subcontinent, can play as specialist batsmen in those conditions because his keeping Vs spin is far from acceptable right now.
 
Buttler is fighting within himself, needs to be relieved from test matches, the last thing England need is this to effect his limited overs game
 
Huge occasion for Buttler this - he will play his shots.
 
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