We cannot live in the past: Jos Buttler on England’s T20 series loss vs South Africa

Jos Buttler, the captain of England’s white-ball cricket teams, has admitted that his side received a reality check with the loss they suffered against South Africa in the three-match T20 series. In the third match of the series, England were ousted by the Proteas who put up a score of 191 after batting first. In reply, England’s innings crumbled within 101 runs, with none of its star batters putting up a decent challenge.

In a post-match interview with Sky Sports, the 31-year-old 2019 Cricket World Cup winner said that he is sensing the frustration that has been building up around his team. Notably, England have now been defeated in three consecutive T20 series, losing to the West Indies in January and to India earlier this month.

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The Somerset native who represents Rajasthan Royals in the IPL also remarked, “You can cope with losing but you want to make sure you stay true to what you believe in and I think we fell well short with the way we played. The disappointing thing was the way we went down.”

Buttler said that he was unhappy with England’s lack of initiative and admitted that the team needs to consistently perform. Only Johnny Bairstow managed to score 20+ runs while chasing South Africa’s 191. Opener Jason Roy scored 17, and the skipper himself got out after getting an outside edge which was caught by Lungi Ngidi at short third man.

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England is set to play against. Afghanistan in their opening match at the T20 World Cup. The Three Lions will, however, have a chance to get back in form before World Cup in the seven and three T20 matches they will play against Pakistan and Australia, respectively, in the meantime.

England’s three-match Test series against the Proteas is scheduled to commence on August 17.