da brwin： In Jos Buttler, who has accepted the one-day captaincy on a locum basis, England seem to have a sensitive and thoughtful leader for the challenges to come in Bangladesh
da spicy bet： Alan Gardner29-Sep-2016England’s tour of Bangladesh, with its attendant security concerns resulting in the absence of the ODI side’s captain and first-choice opener, is one that requires handling sensitively. In Jos Buttler, who has accepted the captaincy on a locum basis, they seem to have as sensitive and thoughtful a leader as there is among the young group.Buttler has already insisted that, as far as he is concerned, Eoin Morgan remains the captain of the one-day side and will return to the job when England go to India in the New Year. “I fully expect it’s a short-term thing,” he reiterated before the team’s departure for Dhaka, having been in touch with Morgan over the phone to discuss the challenge ahead. Alastair Cook, the Test captain who will be joining the ODI squad as part of his preparations for the tour, has also texted his encouragement and will be on hand for advice.The next few weeks will ask a lot of Buttler. Some were surprised when he was named Morgan’s deputy ahead of the 2015 World Cup and he still does not have much in the way of captaincy experience beyond leading England in a T20 against Pakistan in Dubai last November. With his soft-spoken demeanour, he is not what some people expect of a classic on-field general but he is determined to do the job his way.”I’ll try and be genuine, I’ll try and be myself, I’m not going to be anyone I’m not as a captain,” he said. “I think I view the game in a very similar way to Eoin Morgan, I’ll try and be aggressive. The way we have been playing the last 18 months, I’ll ask the guys to play in exactly the same way – obviously conditions will dictate that to an extent as well. It’s a young squad but it’s an experienced squad in terms of cricket and game awareness, and that’s something we’re going to need in Bangladesh.”As well as the increased level of security for the players to deal with – “for the first few days it will be in your mind” – England will face an opponent eager to give them a cricketing headache. Although they lost to Afghanistan this week, Bangladesh have won their last five ODI series at home, stretching back to 2014; the last non-Asian team to come away from the country with a one-day trophy was Australia more than five years ago.Bangladesh have also beaten in England in three of their last four ODIs, which included handing Morgan’s side their passports during the group stage of the 2015 World Cup. That defeat served as a catalyst for England’s radical limited-overs reinvention and the rematch will provide another opportunity to show how far they have come.”It was a really tough day in Adelaide, very disappointing,” Buttler said. “But we got to rock bottom there and have come back, turned that corner. It’s going to be a great tour, they’ve been very successful at home in their recent past, so it’s a great challenge for us as a group to play in those conditions.”England’s arrival is likely to be a major event in Bangladesh, which last hosted a tour by another Full Member in July 2015. Australia pulled out of a planned trip last year on government advice and England’s tour was only confirmed as going ahead last month – with Morgan and Alex Hales opting to make themselves unavailable. Buttler has been to Bangladesh on three previous occasions, most recently for the 2014 World T20, and was confident that it would be a good experience for the players involved.”We are aware of that,” he said when asked about the significance of England’s visit. “It’s not massively at the forefront of your mind when you make a decision that is right for you, based on security … However, we want to broaden our horizons and it’s fantastic for Bangladesh that we are going to tour. When we get there, cricket will be that universal language and we’ll be welcomed, and it will be fantastic for Bangladesh.”It’s going to be a good tour. It’s nice that the security stuff can take a back seat and we can start talking about cricket. They’re very passionate fans and it will make for a good atmosphere to play cricket in and we’ll have to play well to win.”Talk should quickly turn to cricket, as England play a single warm-up match ahead of the first ODI next Friday. With Hales and Morgan missing out and Joe Root rested, England will field a much-changed batting line-up, likely to include the debutant Ben Duckett and two from Jonny Bairstow, James Vince and Sam Billings. They have played just 26 ODIs between them, although it is a mark of how quickly England have grown since the World Cup that Buttler could refer to Billings, who made his debut in the subsequent series against New Zealand, as someone who “has been around for a long time”.England were flying out the morning after the Professional Cricketers’ Association awards dinner – the schedule barely allows room for end-of-season revelry these days – and the inclusion of Duckett, the first man to win both Player and Young Player of the Year, gives Buttler a weapon that none of his predecessors have been able to draw on.”He’s obviously had a great year, last night he picked up both PCA awards and rightly so he’s being talked about. He’s a fantastic talent, someone I’m actually really looking forward to getting to know better and to see in training, because that’s really when you start to see how good guys are. It’s very exciting, some of the performances he’s put in – that double-hundred for the Lions was fantastic, so it’s a great opportunity for him. He is a very exciting prospect for English cricket which just shows in one-day cricket there’s some great depth and great competition.”
