Jos Buttler has stepped down as England’s white-ball captain following their Champions Trophy exit.
An eight-run defeat by Afghanistan on Wednesday sent England crashing out of the tournament at the first hurdle, having been beaten by Australia in their opening fixture.
Buttler, who will take charge for the final time against South Africa on Saturday, took over from Eoin Morgan in the summer of 2022.
His tenure started well, with England winning the T20 World Cup in Australia within five months of him taking charge.
However, England lost 22 of their 34 ODIs under his captaincy, putting in an abject defence of the 50-over World Cup in India in 2023. That T20 title was also surrendered in the Caribbean last summer, with coach Matthew Mott sacked as a result but Buttler surviving.
Yet just weeks into his partnership with new white-ball coach Brendon McCullum, the 34-year-old has decided to stand down just two days after admitting he was considering his future in the wake of that tournament-ending defeat by Afghanistan in Lahore.
In an unscheduled press conference at Karachi’s National Stadium ahead of England’s final match against South Africa, Buttler said: “I’m going to stand down as England captain, it’s the right decision for me and it’s the right decision for the team. Hopefully somebody else can come in and work closely alongside Baz to take the team back to where it needs to be.
“It’s quite clear this tournament was going to be important results-wise for my captaincy and two losses and going out of the tournament with a bit of a hangover from the tournaments before, I’ve just reached the end of the road.
“It’s a shame and I’m sad about that. With Brendon coming in only recently, I was really excited to work closely alongside him and hope for a very quick turnaround and take the team forward. It’s not quite worked out that way, so it just feels like it’s the right time for me and the team to have a change.
“My over-riding emotions are sadness and disappointment but I’m sure in time that will pass and I’ll get back to really enjoying my cricket. Also, I’ll be able to reflect on what an immense honour it is to captain your country and all the special things that come with it.”
Buttler confirmed he will continue to play 50-over cricket for England under whoever the new captain is. Harry Brook is the favourite to take over before the team’s next white-ball series against the West Indies in June.
“I’ll still be available so we’ll see what the coach wants to do there,” he said.
McCullum, who has lost 10 of his 11 games since taking over the white-ball team alongside his job as Test coach, revealed Buttler told him of his decision in England’s team hotel in Karachi on Thursday evening.
“It’s come a little bit quicker than we all expected,” he said.
“Jos texted me yesterday. I sort of had a bit of an inkling after the game, to be honest, the other night. He texted me last night and said: ‘Can we catch up, boss?’ So I went to his room, and he let me know.
“Obviously, I sort of had a bit of an inkling, and I had a bit of time to process it. My first reaction was to tell him to carry on. But then you start thinking about it, and you see how involved he’s been trying to get best out of these players. And you look at what’s right for Jos and first and foremost, I care about him as mate.
“Obviously, with the other hat on as a coach I look at what’s right too. But look, I think it’s incredibly selfless from Jos to have made this call and I want us to celebrate what he’s been able to achieve.”
On appointing a successor, McCullum said: “Give us a couple of weeks to work things out and digest what’s unfolded here, work out what areas we’ve been short in, and done okay in, work out the structure of how we want to do things moving forward.
“We’ve got a couple of months before our next assignment, so there is a bit of time to work that out. Keysy [managing director of cricket Rob Key] and myself need to get together. Those at the ECB who have a hand in things as well and make sure whoever we decide feels right, and we give them the most amount of support.”
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