London: England captain Jos Buttler believes his team will be better equipped to win the T20 World Cup after a poor defense of their 50-over crown in India last year.
But many of the same players, including Buttler, went to England for the 50-over World Cup, only for England to lose 6 of their first seven matches.
Instead, New Zealand suffered a nine-wicket defeat in their tournament opener, a historic loss to Afghanistan and a 229-run defeat by South Africa.
One of the great white-wicket players of his generation, Buttler managed only 138 runs at 15.33 in nine innings, leading some to question whether the 33-year-old was playing too much in the triple role of captain and wicketkeeper-batsman. .
England’s Australian white-ball coach Matthew Mott has also come under fire after a series of selection failures, but Buttler said there was a simple explanation for the team’s struggles in India.
“We didn’t play enough,” he told Sky Sports. “The biggest lesson for me was to try not to confuse freedom with maybe ambiguity.
“Sometimes you’ll let players play with freedom and you don’t want to take too many steps.
He added: “I think it’s about reinventing the wheel or giving people a message that they haven’t heard before.
“Maybe there are 200-plus (T20) games where you have to try and defend 140, which can be kept and tickets are hard to come by.”
England have added former West Indies captain Kieron Pollard to their batting staff in a bid to capitalize on their local knowledge, to name three stars in opener Phil Dooz, top batsman Harry Brooke and all-rounder Will Jacks.
However, Jofra Archer is the most exciting addition to the England squad.
The Barbados-born fast bowler has been sidelined since England won the 2019 50-over World Cup with an elbow injury.
“I think Jofra Archer was brilliant,” said Buttler, who was named player of the match, after smashing 84 off 51 in Birmingham.
“You can see him taking more wickets for England, but he has to overcome those expectations because it’s not going to happen straight away.”
It remains to be seen whether the 29-year-old can withstand the rigors of tournament cricket even if he is limited to a maximum of four T20 overs per match.
However, Jackler highlighted Archer’s importance for England: “Good pace in the nets, good pace in the middle, good yorkers at the death – he is a big asset for us and we love having him in the squad”.
