Jos Buttler has revealed how he kept in touch with Alex Hales during his three year England exile before making the call to bring him back into the fold.
And that olive branch from the skipper could make all the difference as the pair look likely to form a brand new opening partnership at the top of the order at the T20 World Cup.
Buttler has been a non-playing captain in Pakistan due to a calf injury while Hales has been gently reintegrated into the side, which means they are still yet to open the batting together in a T20 innings. But the skipper reckons their good relationship off the field will be able to translate into a positive one on it as he tries to add more silverware to a career that is lighter than it should be in that department.
“I actually just ended up through circumstances hardly ever playing against Alex and very rarely seeing him in that time,” said Buttler. “But we kept the relationship going a little bit.
“There was the odd message here and there. But I don’t think I played against him once in that time. Maybe the Hundred this year was the first time we'd played against each other.
“If it ends up that it is myself and Alex opening the batting, that partnership is a crucial one, getting to know your partner as well as you can, having that understanding and being able to work together out in the middle and off the field as well.
“Alex has come back into the team after a number of years and seems to have settled back in really well. He has spoken about it feeling like coming back to family after a long time.
“We all know he is a class player. He's obviously been performing well around the world and especially in Australia in the Big Bash. That’s one tournament he's done particularly well in.”
There have been glimpses of Hales’ quality with scores of 53, 26, 5 and 1 so far in his four matches, but England could do with him firing in the sixth match on Friday as they try to level a 3-2 deficit in the penultimate game in Lahore.
Buttler is unlikely to feature until the squad get to Australia for three warm up matches before the World Cup, but after losing in the IPL final this year he is focused on trying to fulfil a long held dream and improve his record.
“Winning those big tournaments with your country are the things you do dream about a lot,” Buttler added. “As you get a little bit older and know that you want to experience those things again.
“I think you let yourself dream about it and it would be amazing having come close once before in 2016.
“And for me personally my record in finals isn’t great, I’ve won two out of 10. So, certainly I have days where I think about how I could have won a lot more.
“You want to be in teams that win things and share those great moments and having been runners up a lot in my career watching other teams lift the trophy, it hurts.”
Jos Buttler was speaking on behalf of Booking.com , whose research ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia next month shows that half of England supporters would travel 3,000 miles to support their team abroad.
