The Times Magazine 39Jos Buttler Continued from page 31Players of old did not tend to land lucrative
deals. But Buttler joins Andy Murray and
Owen Farrell at the sportswear brand Castore- “the best clothes I’ve worn”, he says, loyally.
Anyway, he continues, it’s important to
remember that when pundits and former
players criticise, they’re not doing it out of
malice but because it’s their job. Still, he mutes
Twitter when he’s had a bad game, and tries to
focus on the opinions of those who matter to
him: his agent, Neil Fairbrother, his wife,
whom he met at King’s College school in
Taunton, his parents and his close friends.
He’s also partial to a bit of mindfulness,
although he’s quick to downplay his knowhow.
“I like the Headspace app. I’m no great
meditator, but I do find that it allows me to
find some sort of peace and helps me with my
mindset going into a cricket match, that state
of flow when I feel I perform my best.”
International cricket is divided up into
three main formats: five-day Tests, one-day
50-over matches (ODI) and the 20-over
version known as T20. In the latter two,
Buttler is an undisputed master. He’s scored
the fastest century by an English player (in
46 balls) as well as four of the next ten fastest.
In the business of hitting a ball hard and long
and scoring as many runs as possible in the
shortest period of time, there is no one better.
We’ll soon find out whether that’s still the
case when a rested Buttler takes to the field
against India in the five-match T20 series
that starts on Friday.
In the 2019 World Cup final, it was no
coincidence that England’s top scorers were
Buttler and Stokes, or that they were chosen
to play the extraordinary Super Over. It was
Buttler at his most effective. After smashing
seven runs, he ran out the New Zealander
Martin Guptill and gave England victory.
He made his debut as an England player in
T20 when he was, fittingly, just 20, and waited
another four years for his Test debut. He got
off to a great start, with a blistering innings,
but he had trouble holding down a place. After
he had a disappointing Ashes series in 2015,
Geoffrey Boycott said he played like “a rabbit
caught in the headlights”. And then he was
dropped from the Test side.
By the time he won his place back a couple
of years later he had inscribed a message
to himself on the top of his bat’s handle. It
read simply: “f it”. It’s probably the most
outrageous thing he’s done as an adult, at least
publicly. Asked to explain the message, he
said, “I think it’s just something that reminds
me of what my best mindset is – when I’m
playing cricket, and probably in life as well.”
Truth be told, Buttler doesn’t come across
as a “f it” kind of guy. If anything, the
inscription points to someone who would like
to care much less than he actually does. After
all, the sort of people who really do think like
that don’t need to write the sentiment down to
remind themselves.
In any case, the aspiration to a more devil-
may-care attitude worked for him last summer
when it looked as if he was going to lose
his place once again, following a number of
dropped catches against Pakistan. When he
walked out on the Old Trafford pitch last
August, England were 106-4 in their second
innings and Pakistan were favourites to win.
“The realisation that it potentially could
be my last game gave me the freedom to be
like, ‘Well, just enjoy your last game and play
in a fashion you want to,’ ” he says.
It enabled him, in other words, to play like
his self-composed slogan advised. And he did
enjoy himself, smashing fours to all corners
of the ground, along with a mighty 6, before
getting out for a match-transforming 75 runs.
It took England to the brink of a victory they
duly grabbed. Buttler had secured his place- at least for a while.
Cricket loves statistics. And cricketers live
and die by them. Buttler’s aim is to be among
the world’s best across all three formats. As
he says: “The best players in the world can
transfer across all of them – that’s what makes
them the best.”
He can’t really consider himself in that
category unless he shifts his Test batting
average northwards. No one knows this better
than he does.
“I think I’ll always be a harsh critic of
myself and say I probably never will reach
what I think I’m capable of, but I’ll always
be aiming to get there.”
It’s a shame he didn’t get the opportunity
to test himself more fully against the Indians,
because playing India in India is one of the
two great challenges in cricket, as England
discovered in their second and third Tests
after winning the first, in which Buttler played.
But the other big confrontation begins in
November when England travel to Australia
to try to regain the Ashes.
“I’d love to be part of an England team
that wins back the Ashes in Australia,” Buttler
says, beaming at the prospect. “That’s as big a
challenge as you can get as a Test cricketer.”
Only one England team has beaten the
Aussies in their own back yard in the past
34 years. On their home turf, the Australians
enjoy nothing more than exposing underlying
weakness in lily-livered Poms.
In many respects Buttler is the archetypal
Pom, in terms of how the Australians like
to stereotype us. He’s privately educated, from
a nice middle-class family, polite, reserved,
and a confidence player. He’s not the plain-
speaking, gritty, indefatigable type that
Australians tend to respect. And nor does
he possess the intimidating streak of his
team-mate Stokes, who always gives the
impression that he’ll go out of his way
not to take any nonsense from anyone.
As Buttler acknowledges, playing in an
aggressive way in Test matches at all times is
not a viable strategy. It’s as much about the
balls you don’t hit as the ones you do, and
then about the ones you block rather than
smash to the boundary.
“Test matches demand that you adapt,”
he says. “You have to play in a variety of ways
at different times. I’ve always wanted to be
someone who can play the conditions as
opposed to a flash-in-the-pan who will play
a few shots. Test cricket is a test of your
character and how long you can hang in
there a lot of the time.”
No sensible judge questions his abundant
gifts, but it is Buttler’s character that will come
under unforgiving scrutiny in Australia. A
middle-order batsman who can make a big
score is often the difference between winning
and losing in tight matches. Buttler has the
potential to be that player.
Before that, though, he first has to make
sure of his place in the squad. There’s a Test
series against New Zealand in England and
after that another against India. So there’s
a lot of cricket to play. And perhaps the ECB’s
resting policy will prove to be one of admirable
foresight. But it’s not really burnout that is the
concern with Buttler so much as ignition.
When he’s on fire, he has strong claim
to be the most exciting cricket player in the
world. If he can thrive in the heat of Test
cricket this year, he can also become one
of its very best. nJos Buttler is a Castore athlete. To see the full
premium sportswear collection, visit castore.comWith his wife, Louise, and their daughter, Georgia Rose, 2019GETTY IMAGES