What to do with Jos Buttler?
England’s greatest white-ball batter has hit a severe patch of form at this T20 World Cup. Buttler has scored just 62 runs in the tournament, averaging 8.85, with a highest score of 26. He has faced 58 balls at a strike-rate of 106.89. Early contributions of 26 and 21 against Nepal and West Indies accounted for most of that tally; since then his best has been a scratchy 14-ball seven versus Sri Lanka, with other scores of three, three, two and most recently a duck.
His two-ball duck against New Zealand — when he walked down the pitch to Lockie Ferguson and poked tamely behind — was painful to watch but felt symptomatic of a player wrestling with his own timing and confidence rather than being outplayed by opposition plans. England now face a selection dilemma.
Could Buttler be dropped?
Dropping Buttler appears unlikely. The natural replacement in the 15-man squad would be Ben Duckett, but Duckett has not batted much recently — his only notable score since last summer being an ODI 62 against Sri Lanka on January 22 — and he recorded a golden duck in the final T20 of a bilateral series on February 3. Duckett also had a difficult Ashes campaign. You could argue Duckett might do no worse than the current Buttler, but England seem reluctant to discard a player who has been a linchpin of world white-ball batting for more than a decade.
Captain Harry Brook has repeatedly defended Buttler. After the win over New Zealand he said: “He has played 150-odd T20Is for England, averaging nearly 34 with a strike-rate of 177, so people maybe need to take a step back. He is probably the best white-ball batter to have played the game. He is in a little bit of a rut now, but it is exciting for everyone in the world to know what he could produce in the next couple of games. He has a lot of fire in the belly and wants to show what he is made of. He is a phenomenal player and I have no doubt he will do well.”
Should Buttler move down the order?
If dropping him is unlikely, could England change his role — move him down the order and give an opener like Phil Salt more time? Options include promoting Sam Curran, Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton or even Rehan Ahmed, with Buttler coming in later. Buttler averages 36.61 across 16 T20Is at No.3, though Brook seems to have that spot locked after his 50-ball century against Pakistan. Buttler has batted outside the top three only twice in T20Is since 2018 and not since 2023, and England’s middle order has been an important asset in this tournament.
As it stands, Buttler is expected to remain an opener for the semi-final — most likely against India or West Indies in Mumbai on March 5 — and for the final if England progress. The knockout phase would be an ideal time for him to rediscover his form.
Voices of support
Former team-mate Moeen Ali urged Buttler to believe in himself on Sky Sports: “He definitely has the ability and he has to believe it is going to come. I know that’s difficult, but I have been in many sides where somebody is not scoring runs until the last couple of games and that’s when the good players turn up. Against New Zealand, I think Jos tried to do something a bit different – stepping down the wicket, trying to get bat on ball, trying to get off the mark, be busy. He just nicked something that bounced a bit more than he anticipated.”
England face no easy choice: stick with a proven game-changer enduring a rare slump, shift him down the order to protect his rhythm, or give someone else a chance with the tournament on the line. For now the selectors and captain have backed Buttler to turn it around in the business end of the competition.