How Jos Buttler is Indirectly Fueling Joe Root’s ODI Resurgence in New Era for England Cricket

Veteran England batter Joe Root has revealed that the guilt of not being able to support Jos Buttler during the latter’s captaincy stint is helping him boost his morale and do wonders in ODI cricket. The 34-year-old Joe Root played a match-winning knock of 166* in the second ODI against West Indies in Cardiff on Sunday.

Joe Root on how he felt guilty for Jos Buttler

Root, who had been away from the England ODI side for a significant amount of time post the 2019 World Cup win, feels that he still has a lot to offer for England in the 50-over format. Joe Root has played just 19 ODIs under Jos Buttler as England’s 50-over captain.

“I played a huge amount of cricket with Jos and almost felt guilty that I wasn’t there for him throughout a lot of his tenure,” Joe Root said after England’s three-wicket win over West Indies in Sunday’s second ODI.

“And now that there’s more chances and more opportunities to play ODI cricket, I want to be involved in that. I want play as much as I can for England and, if I’m going make the team better, then absolutely want to be there and involved in, in trying to do that.

“Whether that’s helping in and around practice with the younger players as a senior bat, and sharing and expressing my experience with them to try and speed up their processes and their learnings. But also out on the field, I feel like I’ve still got a lot to give and there’s a lot more runs in there. Hopefully knocks like that show that,” he explained.

Harry Brook took over as England’s new white-ball captain in April and he has led his side to an ODI series win over West Indies with a game to spare. England had won the first ODI by 238 runs and the second match by three wickets. The third and final ODI will take place at The Oval on Tuesday (June 3).

Joe Root optimistic of England’s ODI future

The Yorkshire cricketer remained optimistic of England’s future in ODIs despite forgettable campaigns at the 2023 ODI World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy.

“Hopefully, this can be a team that is quite consistent and sticks together for a long period of time and we can start building something as a group together. It’s what we did really well leading up to that 2019 World Cup. I don’t think that counts for nothing,” the right-handed batter stated.

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On Sunday, England were set a target of 309 and the hosts were in a spot of bother at 93/4 in the 14th over. This was following the dismissal of Jos Buttler.

However, the No 3 batter Joe Root proved that he is still among the best in ODIs as he formed a 40-run stand with Jacob Bethell (Fifth wicket) and a 143-run partnership with Will Jacks (Sixth wicket). England won the match with seven balls to spare.

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