After playing a crucial half-century knock in the ongoing third or final Test of the series against West Indies, England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler revealed that he was feeling pressure for his inconsistent performances in the recent Test matches.
In the ongoing series-decider Manchester Test against West Indies, when the hosts England were under pressure in the first innings, Jos Buttler built up the crucial 140 runs partnership with Ollie Pope for the fifth wicket. The right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman scored 67 runs before becoming a part of the hosts’ batting collapse on the second day morning of this Test.
It was his first Test fifty since the Ashes 2019. Before his latest 67 runs, Buttler scored 43, 0, 12, 22, 29, 23, 1, 20, 8, 35, 9, 40 and 0 runs respectively after the completion of Ashes 2019.
After his latest innings, Buttler admitted that he had enough concern about his future in the team due to his recent inconsistent performances in the Test cricket.
Buttler told Sky Sports, “Yes, naturally, but I think time in the middle gives you confidence and obviously I hadn’t been doing that. But I think it’s more about doing a job for your team which I’m very aware of and if you are not quite performing as well as you want, you realise you’re not doing your job as well as you should be for your team.”
“I was definitely feeling pressure. I’ve played long enough now to understand when you’re under pressure and it’s on your shoulders and how to deal with it.”
The only time I’ve had success at Test level is when I’ve trusted my defence: Jos Buttler
While Buttler is very successful in the limited-overs format with his aggressive batting approach, he doesn’t see the Test cricket in the same way. He feels that he only gets success in Test cricket when he has trusted his defence.
Buttler added, “The only time I’ve had success at Test level is when I’ve trusted my defence. Lots of people expect me to play a certain way because of the way I play in one-day cricket but I’ve never seen Test cricket in that way.”
After making his international debut in 2011, Jos Buttler has played 43 Tests, 142 ODIs and 69 T20Is (excluding the ongoing Manchester Test). The right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman has scored 2211 Test runs (average 31.14), 3843 ODI runs (average 40.88) and 1334 T20I runs (average 26.68).