LAHORE — Jos Buttler has admitted he will consider his future as England captain over the coming days after his team’s one-day fortunes plumbed new depths with a defeat by Afghanistan that dumped them out of the Champions Trophy with one game still left to play.
It’s a result that leaves Buttler’s position untenable, with his team now having lost 22 of their 34 ODIs since he assumed the role on a full-time basis from Eoin Morgan in the summer of 2022.
Afghanistan, powered by a brilliant 177 by opener Ibrahim Zadran, set Buttler’s men 326 to win at the same Lahore venue where England had been unable to defend 352 against Australia four days earlier.
Despite chasing this time, it was same result for England, who lost by eight runs to exit the tournament in miserable fashion.
Defeat came despite Joe Root’s first one-day hundred since the 2019 World Cup.
But it was not enough, with England’s misery compounded by a knee injury to key fast bowler Mark Wood that forced him to leave the field twice during Afghanistan’s innings.
This latest horror show follows the calamitous 2023 World Cup in India, where England exited at the first round, and the disappointing campaign in the T20 equivalent last summer.
Buttler survived both of those failures, with coach Matthew Mott left to carry the can. Now, with a new coach in Brendon McCullum beside him, it is clear that the captain’s time is now done.
“Obviously, the results aren’t where they need to be,” he said. “I’ve got to work out personally am I part of the problem or am I part of the solution?”
Pressed on whether that meant he will now consider his future, he replied: “Yes. There are people I want to discuss that with and take a little bit of time to work out personally what I think is right.
“I want to see the guys at the top – they’re in charge and they will have their own views as well. We need to get the team back to where it needs to be, competing to win these tournaments.
“I know lots of people think it doesn’t sit well with me being captain but I really do enjoy it. But results are tough and they weigh heavy at times. Of course, you want to be leading a winning team and we haven’t been that for a while now. That makes for some difficult moments.”
McCullum, now coach across all formats, backed Buttler when he took on the white-ball job last month. But he will have to make a call on Buttler’s future alongside director of cricket Rob Key, who was in attendance at Gaddafi Stadium, in the very near future.
England’s final game in this tournament against South Africa in Karachi on Saturday is now a dead rubber.
After that there are four months for a change to be made before the next one-day series against the West Indies in June. Harry Brook would be the frontrunner to take over as captain from Buttler, yet he is on a poor run of form, with his innings of 25 here seeing him average just 15.60 across the five ODIs he’s played this winter.
Wood’s injury was another concern, with the fast bowler coming back onto the field to bowl another four overs after pulling up early on before exiting again before the end of Afghanistan’s innings.
“We don’t know the full picture at the moment,” said Buttler. “He bowled through a lot of pain and I thought he showed unbelievable character, as you always get with Woody. Hopefully it’s not too bad.”
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