England have a hectic schedule ahead of them ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup, set to be played in the months of October and November in India. The team, currently playing an ODI series in South Africa, will travel to New Zealand to play a 2-match Test series and then have a white-ball tour set up against Bangladesh.
While the England white-ball and red-ball sides are different for England, there are several young players who have been selected for both the New Zealand and Bangladesh tour. England white-ball captain Jos Buttler has lamented the fact that the New Zealand Test tour finishes on 28 February and the white-ball team plays their first ODI on March 1 in Bangladesh. The captain in a interview has said that he feels for the players who want to play the game in all three formats.
“I feel for the players to be honest. There are certain players who have the ability to play all three formats but that is kind of impossible because of the schedules. That is a frustration I would have if I was a young player growing up now, that you don’t want to feel pigeon-holed as a player because the schedule doesn’t allow you to play everything,” Buttler was quoted as saying by The Evening Standard.
Fringe players in the England ODI set up Ben Duckett and youngster Harry Brook were not able to succeed in the first ODI match against South Africa. However, the captain felt that it was important to give the players chances here because it would not be possible to fit them in the Bangladesh series, which will give the England side a good practice in the white-ball conditions ahead of the World Cup.
“It’s going to be pretty impossible for those guys to be involved in Bangladesh, so it’s really important we expose them here and give them opportunity. We’ve got to use these games here and in Bangladesh to experiment a bit, expose people to playing international cricket. That’s just something we have to manage the whole way through. If we play well, I think we should win games of cricket,” Buttler said.
