Challenge: Jos Buttler will lead his England team into South Africa ODI series with very minimal preparation
(Picture: Getty Images)Jos Buttler has called on England’s players to make cricket’s hectic schedule work to their advantage as their World Cup build-up begins in South Africa on Friday.
Buttler’s side are in Bloemfontein for the start of a three-match series, with just 10 more ODIs to follow after that before the start of the World Cup in India in October.
The majority of England’s players have been in action in franchise T20 leagues in either South Africa or the UAE in recent weeks. As a result, the build-up to the series has been markedly low-key, with a full squad of players - bar Jofra Archer - only training together for the first time on Thursday afternoon.
The situation is one England have had to get used to, with the proliferation of domestic T20 tournaments creating all manner of headaches around player availability. Buttler insists he would prefer the current scenario than have players arriving undercooked.
“I absolutely feel ready,” said Buttler, who has been playing in the SA20 for Paarl Royals. “It's great guys coming here having been playing cricket. We're only all here now and getting together for one training session before the series but it's where cricket's at now.
“It's where the formats and schedules are so we can use that to our advantage as opposed to seeing that as a challenge, use that as a good opportunity.”
Archer sat out Thursday’s session having trained as part of a smaller group on Wednesday, but is expected to play in Friday’s opener, when he will return to England action after 22 months of injury hell.
“It's great to have Jofra back, fit and playing cricket again,” Buttler added. “I speak on behalf of everyone that he's such an exciting guy to have back on the field. As an England captain, being able to have him back in your squad and in your team is brilliant.
“He's only just coming back to competitive cricket, this will be his first international game for a long time so there's always going to be a level of expectation on Jofra because we all know what he's capable of. But I'm sure he's just going to get better and better as he comes back and gets back to performing at such a high level.”
