Jos Buttler determined to rediscover form with bat in Champions Trophy

Jos Buttler wants to rediscover his mojo with the bat in one-day internationals as he looks to reinforce his position as England captain at the Champions Trophy in Pakistan.

In 33 ODIs since being appointed permanent white-ball skipper in June 2022, Buttler averages 33.13 with a strike-rate of 99.2, a sharp dip from 41.2 and 121.28 respectively in his first 151 matches.

His prolonged lean spell has coincided with England’s fall from grace in coloured clothing and they head into Saturday’s Champions Trophy opener against Australia on the back of 16 defeats in 23 ODIs.

Having batted at number five for much of his time in charge, Buttler returns to six at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium – where he was a pillar of success for predecessor Eoin Morgan between 2015-19.

“I feel very confident in my own form,” Buttler said. “I’m excited and optimistic. I feel like 50 overs has been my best format over my career, it’s where I’ve had the most impact.

“I want to try and double down on that super strength of being in the middle-order, playing impactful innings and being really true to my own identity as a cricketer.

“I think that’s really something I’m tapping back into. Over a period of time that’s the way I’ve played and that’s what I want to get out of this tournament and going forward.

“Over the rest of my career I want to be true to that and if I can I’ll be very content.”

While Phil Salt and Ben Duckett will open with Jamie Smith the surprise choice at number three – having never batted there before for England – Buttler feels there is scope to rejig the order in certain scenarios.

In the past when England had got off to a flyer, Buttler was sent in at number four to rub salt into the wound and in 14 ODIs there he averages 68.1, contrasted with 34.63 in 75 matches two places lower.

Yet Buttler, who flourished as England’s finisher during their run from 2015 no-hopers to 2019 world champions, rejected the notion he was sacrificing himself for those higher up the order.

“In my whole career in ODI cricket I’ve probably batted at six more than anywhere so I’m very comfortable in that role,” Buttler said.

“I have huge trust in all of us, in every single player. I feel like we’ve set the team up in a certain way that gives us the best chance at the moment. That’s exciting.

“If we need to change that at any point we’re not going to die in a hole and say we’re doing this whatever happens. If we want to jig things around or change things we can do that.

“But we also want to give people enough trust to know we back them in that position and we trust them to get the job done.”

England reinforcing their batting, with Joe Root, Harry Brook and Buttler each dropping one place to accommodate Smith, leaves them with Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Brydon Carse and Adil Rashid as frontline bowling options.

While Root and Liam Livingstone are expected to share duties as the fifth bowler, England are looking to add ballast to their batting following a chastening 3-0 ODI series clean sweep by India last week.

Duckett attracted criticism from former England captain Kevin Pietersen among others for saying he did not care about the series result in India as long as they beat them in the Champions Trophy.

“Sometimes headlines can be created out of things that maybe someone doesn’t quite mean, or words can be misconstrued or can be taken out of context,” Buttler added.

“But every single player who plays international sport no matter what sport it is, I can guarantee wouldn’t have got there if they weren’t ultra-competitive and didn’t want to win.

“Don’t mistake that for guys saying they don’t, but what people must understand is that people saying they want to win doesn’t guarantee results. You have to find ways to look after the things that you can control.”