England skipper Jos Buttler said he was “fed up” with his woeful run of form and that it was time to get back to being “the player that I know I am” by putting up a solid performance with the bat.
The keeper-batter, who struggled with the bat throughout the ODI World Cup, scored his first half-century since September — an unbeaten 58 off 45 balls — to guide England to a series-levelling six-wicket victory over hosts West Indies in the second ODI here on Wednesday.
“I’ve been searching for form. I have had moments where it has been frustrating,” Buttler was quoted as saying by the BBC.
“I was getting fed up with it, so it was time to put in a performance and get back to the player that I know I am,” he added.
Ahead of the second ODI, Buttler had been dismissed for five single-digit scores in eight outings.
But the match-winning knock on Wednesday made him the fifth England batter to cross the 5,000-run mark in ODIs. “Really pleasing... I’ve been playing for a while
now, so it’s great when you get to those milestones after playing for a long period of time. It’s been a frustrating time recently.”
Buttler had taken over the reins as white-ball skipper from World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan last year. Under his leadership, England won the T20 World Cup last year. However, defending champions England made an embarrassing early exit from the ODI World Cup last month, finishing seventh to just qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Broadcaster’s slip
Canberra: In a broadcasting blunder, racist word “PAKI” was used to show the Pakistan team on live score ticker by Fox Cricket during a warm-up game against Prime Minister XI, triggering a controversy.
The TV grab was posted on X by an Australian journalist on the opening day of the match at the Manuka Oval here on Wednesday.
The error was later rectified and Cricket Australia reportedly apologised for the error.
‘PAKI’ is a contemptuous term for a person from Pakistan or South Asia by birth or descent.
Journalist Daany Saeed, whose post on X drew attention to the error, in another post wrote that Cricket Australia has apologised for the slip.
“The graphic was an automatic feed from a data provider which had not been used previously for a Pakistan game.
“This was obviously regrettable, and the error we corrected manually as soon as it came to light,” Saeed wrote on X, mentioning that it was a clarification from CA.
PTI
