Jos Buttler hails 'new beginning' to restore England's tarnished white-ball image
Written by I Dig SportsSpeaking after England trained for the second consecutive day at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, Buttler reflected on what has been a difficult two months, before throwing forward and highlighting the talent and excitement at the start of a "new beginning".
"There's some really exciting talent in this team," Butter said. "Young guys eager to get their opportunities and perform. There's some guys that have not been exposed to ODI cricket a lot, but have a lot of experience in Test cricket, so not necessarily new to the international game. It's a nice blend."
"It was good. It's what I want him to do," Buttler said of the battle between the two. "There are some exciting seam bowlers, guys with good pace, some good athletes and it's a nice time to look forward to, give guys an opportunity and see what they have got."
Buttler's macro-approach can be attributed to a player who has been there, seen it and done it. An international debut that came when David Cameron had only just ticked off a year in No.10 Downing Street, you can forgive Buttler for speaking in the knowing tones of someone who just knows more about this subject than you do.
"We have had one bad tournament," Buttler said on the position of English white-ball cricket, as well as what is left to motivate a man with over 300 international appearances and two World Cup titles to his name.
"It's been in a great place for a long time and you see the depth of talent of guys coming through and you want to help shape that period of white-ball cricket. That's something I feel responsibility and motivation for.to get England white-ball cricket back to where it's been for a long time."
In regards to his own learnings, Buttler emphasised the need to find balance in his own preparations that centre mainly around remembering to focus on himself as much as the team: "That's a big learning for me, managing my own game is vital to the team and just finding different ways to do that to allow me to walk to the middle with a clear mind.
"[And] realising that sort of tournament doesn't define you. I've got to use it as motivation and hunger to push myself and the team forward and take the learnings from that. Use it as a positive experience to go into the rest of my career.I always think of Ben Stokes' words to Jofra [Archer] about the [2019] Super Over. 'Whatever happens here doesn't define you,' and I certainly feel like that World Cup isn't the defining moment for me.
"I'm at the stage of my life and career where I have got good perspective. I get home and have got two children who don't really care about the World Cup. It certainly gives you a nice focus as a dad and those things, but I'm a very proud guy as well and have disappointments. But you know, life moves on, the world moves on pretty fast. There's always something to look forward to. It's never as bad as you think it is and it's never as good as you think it is."