Jos Buttler wants to REMAIN as England’s white-ball captain for West Indies tour next month despite dismal Cricket World Cup… as he prepares for crunch talks with ECB chief Rob Key

• Jos Buttler insisted that he intends to lead England against West Indies
• Buttler and coach Matthew Mott will meet England chief Rob Key this week 
• AADAM PATEL: It feels as if captaincy is weighing down one of England’s greats 

Jos Buttler insisted that he intends to lead England in their white-ball fixtures against West Indies in the Caribbean next month. 

‘Yeah, I’d like to (play and lead in the Caribbean),’ said Buttler, after England’s 160-run win against the Netherlands. 

‘I know Rob Key arrives in India on Wednesday so we can have some good conversations with him and the coach and everyone, and make a plan for that tour but yeah, I’d like to,’ Buttler added. 

His leadership has come under scrutiny at the World Cup India, with England losing six of their eight games and beating only Bangladesh and the Netherlands, though with T20 World Cup success last year, he has credit in the bank. 

Alongside England white-ball coach Matthew Mott, the pair will meet Key, England’s managing director of men’s cricket, in Kolkata this week, where England finish their World Cup campaign against Pakistan on Saturday. 

Jos Buttler keen to remain England one-day captain for tour of Caribbean next month

Buttler and Matthew Mott will meet England chief Rob Key (pictured) in Kolkata this week

‘It’s a huge game for us (against Pakistan),’ said Buttler. ‘We haven’t performed the way we wanted to this whole trip, and we’d like to leave India putting in a proper performance.’ 

Buttler was full of praise for his team-mate Ben Stokes, who scored his first ever World Cup century to rescue England from 192 for six in the first innings to a match-winning total of 339 for nine, before the Dutch were bowled out for 179. 

‘Anytime you need someone to stand up and the team’s under pressure, he’s had a history of always doing that for whoever he’s playing for. We’re very lucky to have him in the team and I thought his innings today was exceptional,’ said Buttler. 

And on a day where England ended their run of losing five games in a row, Buttler admitted that he was once again ‘frustrated’ with his failure with the bat, after he was dismissed for five. The England captain averages just 13.87 across eight innings at this World Cup. 

‘You want to lead from the front and do that in your own performance,’ he said. ‘So I’m very frustrated, again, not to contribute, but I’ll stick to the stuff that’s served me well over a long period of time when I’ve had these little runs of form and hopefully come out the other side of it very soon.’ 

Earlier, Buttler’s predecessor, Eoin Morgan said that England were a ‘sinking ship’ before their clash against Scott Edwards’ side. Though Buttler was adamant that the squad has stayed close. 

‘Everyone’s been frustrated, but the guys have stayed tight, everyone’s stayed really close and kept working hard,’ said Buttler. 

‘If you watched training (on Tuesday), the guys probably trained as hard as they trained all trip, which shows the level of commitment and desire to put things right. You don’t get to the level of player that we’ve got in the squad without having that personal pride and work ethic and determination to put things right when they’re not going the way you want.’

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