Jos Buttler, the New England white-ball skipper talks about the frustration following tight schedules and the lack of training time as they are playing back-to-back series after the final ODI against South Africa.
The last ODI between South Africa and England washed out due to rain with only 27.4 overs possible on Sunday (July 25) at Headingley, which ended the series in a draw.
Jos Buttler, the New England white-ball skipper talks about the frustration following tight schedules and the lack of training time as they are playing back-to-back series after the final ODI against South Africa.
England has played a total of 12 T20Is and 9 ODIs in the last 24 days but they only could bag two out of six ODIs in the last two weeks.
“I think those training days are really important for that team cohesion, the energy within the group, the fielding drills, the camaraderie around the guys without the pressure of a game,”
Buttler said.
“And they’re really vital to high performance. When you miss that chance as well, there’s frustration. It is how it is, and that’s sort of the way this month has panned out. If we find those situations again, we just have to, I think, just find a way… even if you can’t give 100%, can you give 90% of 90? That’s a bit of learning.”
“It’s tough, a lot of the time around training is when you do your best work, away from the pressures of the game, having good conversations, and having a feel for where the group is at. And not just always in game mode, preparing for guys on the day. To get the highest standard of cricket possible, you need to prepare properly. Hopefully, that’s something we can look at going forward. As a new captain, just have that time to bed in and do that work around your players and with your coaches. That’s been a frustration to be truthfully honest – it would be nice to have that time to do the work. But we don’t, so you just have to adapt and find the best way. It’s been a good challenge.”
South Africa was at the dominating position of 159/2 in 27.4 overs to set up a decent total with Quinton de Kock unbeaten 92 off just 76 balls before the rain hit the day on a nice evening. Buttler believed that he didn’t think that England was with the same effort as they did in the second ODI.
“I thought we didn’t have quite the same intensity we had on Friday night,”
he said.
“And I know it’s easy to say that when you get wickets and everyone’s up and about, but I thought we didn’t quite have the same intent and energy…maybe only for the first 10 overs of those 20 overs. I thought there was a clear difference when we do have it, so just to encourage us to always try and find that as a team. Take the result out of winning or losing, to make sure we’re always competing at our best and highest intensity.
“In theory, it sounds easy: it’s one-all and you’re playing a series decider. But there’s no getting past the schedule does make that tough.”
Both the team will start their three-match T20I series on Wednesday in Bristol. The two sides will play the series in five days.