Jos Buttler believes Brendon McCullum’s departure as Test coach may have boosted England’s World Cup chances, with the New Zealanders now “all in” to lift the trophy next winter.
McCullum was is relieved of his red ball duties in Julywith Stephen Fleming was eventually appointed as his successorbut remained in charge of a limited-overs lineup that finished the summer with a record of 11 wins and two losses.
This included ODI series win over India AND Sri Lankaraising England’s stakes in a format that has seen them decline since becoming world champions in 2019.
Buttler, who captained the side in their ill-fated 2023 title defence, feels the split coaching model has allowed McCullum to throw all his energy towards next year’s tour of South Africa.
“He has only one focus now and that is the white ball,” Buttler said Podcast For The Love Of Cricket.
“It’s not that he couldn’t do everything, because he could, but your time is more spread out and you have more to think about with the Test team as well.
“Now he can only focus on white-ball cricket – T20, yes, but mainly ODI cricket with that World Cup on the horizon. It seems like Baz is naturally all about, ‘how can I win this World Cup with this team?’
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Buttler said McCullum now has more time to focus on the white-ball format
“I think he can kind of see that the World Cup is not that far away. It’s a real target, now his job has changed from four months ago being responsible for everything to, ‘oh, I can really understand that’. He just has more time and more focus on it.
“ODI cricket for England hasn’t been consistently great for a number of years, so there’s good growth going forward and this summer has been a really good start.”
Buttler gives hamstring injury update
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Buttler was forced to retire after suffering a thigh injury during England’s second ODI against Sri Lanka.
Buttler is currently sidelined with a thigh injury and has already been ruled out for the upcoming tri-series tour in Pakistan.
He is also a doubt for November’s trip to Australia, meaning the team’s most experienced one-dayer could miss up to eight ODIs and a significant chunk of pre-World Cup preparations.
“I’ve had a scan and I’m waiting to see the specialist. Then we’ll know what the next steps are,” he said.
“The unknown is often the hard part. Every cricketer just wants a doctor or a doctor to say, ‘on this date you’ll be back playing cricket’. Unfortunately, they can’t do that yet.”