Totals over 200 should be well within England’s reach, but they haven’t gone beyond 204 in their last 32 caps. There is a lot of progress to be made and talent to be unlocked, starting with Phil Salt, who seems to have more feet on the pitch than any white ball opener England has ever had.
Roy, Salt – if given the chance to spice up the side – Jonny Bairstow (rested for this T20 series but not the ODIs that follow), Buttler and Livingstone would be a top order missing just one element – a southpaw – but Ben Stokes (retired as Bairstow), Moeen Ali and Sam Curran can always get promoted.
Since most English bowlers are injured on the right arm, Richard Gleeson, 34, with a backbone of teaching and coaching, has been called up while the rest of the squad is stuffed to the left-arm pace. Adil Rashid is absent on the pilgrimage to Mecca, so Matt Parkinson will replace him if Buttler wants to play a spinner against India alongside Moeen and Livingstone.
“My posts so far are very similar to what it’s been like for the past six or seven years to be honest,” Buttler said. “I think there are some of us who have been part of that group for a long time, as senior players, and have always been able to express an opinion. I spent a long time as vice-captain of Eoin and exchanged ideas and talked about the game, and we see it in a similar way. So my posts to this team are very consistent with that. Try to be clear and communicate that I always want us to take that positive and aggressive option when we can. I don’t want us to be afraid of losing, and I think that’s been set in stone for a number of years. So there are not necessarily big changes.”
Buttler, who was asked about his testing ambitions, did not rule out a comeback completely, but told Sky he was focused on the whiteball squad and a return was hypothetical as there was no room at the moment. But if Buttler was on the rise now, rather than 10 years ago, what could it be?
He would have been free to hit in the Test side like Rishabh Pant and certainly would have scored more than two centuries in 100 Test innings.