Buttler eager to shine for England

Jos Buttler is the youngest of a new big-hitting generation England are hoping can help them at last get the better of India.

Buttler has been with the squad throughout England’s nightmare sequence of five successive one-day international defeats against their hosts, remaining in the country after Somerset’s run to the Champions League semi-finals.

But the selectors made it clear from the outset he would not be available for selection until, as previously planned, he and opener Alex Hales come into contention for tomorrow’s tour-ending one-off Twenty20 at Eden Gardens.

Buttler, 21 only last month, has been deployed as an athletic substitute fielder and has therefore been with Alastair Cook’s team at every venue as they have moved from defeat to defeat.

He appears unscarred by the experience, though, and is keen to demonstrate improvement can emerge from adversity if he gets his chance to bat in the middle order in the shortest format this weekend. “Everyone’s very determined,” he said. “We’ve got one last chance, nothing really to lose and an opportunity to express ourselves in the Twenty20 format.”

As for England’s miserable ODI campaign, Buttler added: “Good experiences and bad experiences, if you use them correctly, can only benefit us in the future. You can learn a lot from the games. But that’s gone now. We have a Twenty20 on Saturday; the fundamentals of cricket will be the same, and it will be down to who can adapt the best.

“You don’t turn into a bad player overnight. There are some very good cricketers there; when you look to the future there are plenty of exciting young cricketers looking to push on.”

Buttler’s precocious talent, principally as a batsman but also a wicketkeeping prospect, has taken him a long way very quickly since he played the first of his 106 professional cricket matches to date little more than two years ago.

Yet he has had to be patient since being fast-tracked into England reckoning, not required to bat as his first two of just three Twenty20 caps so far coincided with easy victories, and also summoned as cover for the NatWest Series win over India in Cardiff last month – only to end up watching fellow late call-up Jonny Bairstow wow the crowd with a swashbuckling debut innings.

He is not taking his selection for granted, in what is likely to be a near 65,000 sell-out occasion tomorrow, but said: “Every opportunity you get to impress people like that, you’ve got to take. It is a challenge. It is probably the easiest job to get picked in the squad. But once you get picked, then you’ve got to try to perform at that level.”

Buttler, and Bairstow, are already being cast as stalking horses for Craig Kieswetter’s wicketkeeping gloves in limited-overs cricket – should the latter fail to nail down the position.

But Buttler has seen enough of county team-mate Kieswetter – who hit a run-a-ball 63 for England in Tuesday’s embarrassing defeat in Kolkata – to expect great things.

“He’s a fantastic player,” he said. “Having seen him at Somerset, I know what a quality cricketer he is – and it’s a matter of time before he comes off again.

“He played brilliantly the other night at the top of the order, and I’m sure there’s more of that to come.”

It will be the lot of the three wicketkeeper-batsmen to jostle in the coming months and perhaps years for the same spot, even though they can all expect to play this weekend. “That’s the way the wicketkeeper role has developed – you have to be more of a batsman,” said Buttler. “You’ve got people coming to the fore with their batting, who can also keep wicket. Jonny’s been playing these five games just as a batsman. You’ve got the options, with everyone fighting for one spot potentially.”

England, who will again be led by Graeme Swann – as they were in two matches against the West Indies last month, in the absence of injured Twenty20 captain Stuart Broad and his deputy Eoin Morgan – may have to get by without Kevin Pietersen, who is rated “very doubtful”.

Pietersen missed the final match of the ODI whitewash at Eden Gardens, having broken his thumb in last Sunday’s defeat in Mumbai.

He was optimistic on Wednesday that the bruising was going down, and he might therefore be able to play tomorrow – in a match which will see England defend their new-found status as International Cricket Council number ones in the shortest format. But a team spokesman said yesterday: “He will have a fitness test tomorrow. He is still very doubtful for Saturday.”