Jos Buttler pinpoints Tuesday’s clash with Australia at Lord’s as the perfect opportunity to bounce back following defeat to Sri Lanka, and reflects on Eoin Morgan’s record-breaking hundred against Afghanistan…
It is a huge game on Tuesday! England vs Australia is the first fixture you look out for when the schedule is announced.
It’s the first of three massive games for us, with India and New Zealand to follow. We’re desperate to move on from the Sri Lanka result and put things right, and Australia is the perfect game to get up for, with its own unique intensity. We’re still a good team. Throughout these long tournaments, you know you’re going to be put under pressure and, at times, not play that well – unfortunately that has seen us lose two games so far – but the guys are confident we’ll make the semi-finals. I don’t know the latest currently on Jason Roy’s fitness – I think he is being assessed daily, but he is working hard in the gym and with the physios, trying to get right for Tuesday.
He has obviously been a huge part of our team over the last few years, so we’re looking forward to when he is available again. But James Vince is also a fantastic player if he is again required to step in.
People will talk about the David Warner and Steve Smith issue but, for us, that is old news now and everyone is keen to just get on with the cricket.
Before sitting out the last year to serve ball-tampering bans, they were fantastic cricketers, and that has not changed. Warner, in particular, is in fine form, he had a fantastic IPL coming into the World Cup and has obviously carried that over.
