England to stick to adventurous approach - Buttler
Jos Buttler admits England “got out of jail” in the tied opening match at Trent Bridge - but they will continue their adventurous approach for the remainder of the ODI series against Sri Lanka.
|||Jos Buttler admits England “got out of jail” in the tied opening match at Trent Bridge -but they will continue their adventurous approach for the remainder of the Royal London Series against Sri Lanka.
Buttler and Chris Woakes both came to England''s rescue in Nottingham, setting the stage for Liam Plunkett to level the scores with a famous six off the final delivery. Eoin Morgan''s men had got themselves into what the captain later described as a “pickle” at 82 for 6, chasing 286.
Buttler, though, insists this is no time for England''s top order to start thinking they must tone down the aggression, which has largely served them well for the past 12 months.
On Friday, they return to Edgbaston -memorably, the starting point for their improvement after the 2015 World Cup, when Buttler and Joe Root hit centuries in a national-record 408 for 9 against New Zealand last year. Reflecting on the more recent past and Plunkett''s heroics on Tuesday, Buttler said: “It was a morale-boosting finish to the game, but also a strange feeling -because you don''t want to celebrate getting a tie too often.
“Great credit to Liam at the end, and it again shows what talent we have all the way down the order -and character in a moment like that. It was a bit of a get-out-of-jail.
“We were confident of chasing that target down on that pitch, and we were disappointed we didn''t do that -but from the position we found ourselves in, it was nice to drag one back.”
It is therefore 0-0 with four to play. Asked if England may decide to bat more conservatively, however, Buttler said: “Not at all. That''s how cricket goes sometimes, and it''s very unfair to judge after one game. It just shows the great strength in depth we have when it needs to be called upon.”
He is backing the top order to deliver this time. “We expect the guys to come out tomorrow and play fantastically well,” he said. “It just goes to show there will be more pressure on us this summer than last year -having played the way we have in white-ball cricket over the last 12 months.
“[But] it shows we shouldn''t have to do anything different -just go and play with that aggressive mind-set and fall on the positive side of what we do and be prepared to take a risk rather than the negative option. If anything we should come out and play even more shots.
“That''s the way we want to play our cricket. We want to put teams under pressure, and there''s no reason to change.”
Compton takes a break from cricket
Meanwhile, the Test batsman Nick Compton is to take a break from all forms of cricket following a challenging start to the season both physically and mentally. The Middlesex man was to be dropped from the England team for the series against Pakistan following a dismal run of scores against Sri Lanka in the first series of the summer. – The Independent