Jos Buttler defends England selection but pinpoints where bowlers must improve after Australia defeat
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Jos Buttler has defended the selection that left him with just four specialist bowling options as Australia pulled off a record chase against England cricket in the Champions Trophy.
Led by Josh Inglis’s outstanding hundred, Australia hauled in England’s imposing total of 351 with two and a half overs to spare in Lahore to take a significant step towards the semi-finals of the condensed competition.
Buttler’s side had seemed well set to open their campaign with a victory after Ben Duckett’s 165 set up a sizeable score, but they were unable to ever slow Australia’s scoring rate before Glenn Maxwell blasted them over the line.
The England skipper had been left with limited bowling options by a selection that prioritised batting depth, with Liam Livingstone and Joe Root combining as Buttler’s fifth bowler in a squad light on all-rounders.
A seam attack formed entirely of right arm quicks has also faced criticism for being one-note, with Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and, particularly, Brydon Carse all expensive on the day.
But Buttler insisted that he did not feel he was lacking in options, even if the England captain admitted his attack must improve.
“I didn’t feel short at all. No, we liked the balance of the team that we went with. I thought Root and Livingstone bowled really well, built some nice pressure there together,” Buttler said.
“I just think, you’ve got to sometimes credit the opposition. I thought Josh Inglis played a fantastic innings. I thought there were a few phases in the game where we bowled really nicely in partnerships and we starved them of the boundaries and that created chances.
“A couple of times, I was just trying to find a way of just reducing that boundary in the over and any time the pressure came, they managed to play a really good shot or get away.
“I think that’s always the focus for me as a captain and as a bowling unit, just ways that we can restrict that extra boundary in the over to keep pushing the scoreboard pressure up there.”
Leg-spinner Adil Rashid was England’s standout with the ball, with exceptional figures of 1-47 from his 10-over allocation in a high-scoring affair.
England face Afghanistan at the same venue in their second fixture on Wednesday, before concluding their group stage efforts against South Africa next Saturday. The top two finishers in Group B will progress to the semi-finals.
