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Buttler ‘frustrated’ as England players pick PSL over Bangladesh tour


Published : 03 Feb 2023 09:36 PM

Jos Buttler, the captain of England's white-ball team, has acknowledged his "frustrations" over players choosing franchise commitments over the upcoming white-ball tour of Bangladesh, but he is adamant that nobody will be disqualified from selection for subsequent squads due to their choice. On Thursday, the T20 and ODI squads for the tour were revealed. With less than nine months until England's World Cup defense in India, the 50-over matches are of particular significance.

Buttler's team will also be without a number of seasoned internationals who chose to withdraw in order to take up more lucrative opportunities in the Pakistan Super League. This is in addition to several key players being absent due to a scheduling conflict with the Test series in New Zealand.

“It’s quite a unique situation. It’s the times we are in, the way the games are scheduled, and I can sort of understand it both ways,” Buttler said to London Evening Standard.

“Wherever people are playing, we want to pick out best available team, especially for World Cups and big ICC events, so we are open-minded,” he added.

“It’s quite complicated, for sure, and of course there are some frustrations at certain points but I completely understand people’s positions and it’s an individual decision at the end of the day.”

“As an England captain, on one side you wish that everyone would see playing for England as the main thing and grab any opportunity available but there are bigger things in play as well and the discrepancy between what people can earn playing for England and not playing for England is quite large.

 So, that’s a factor that must be considered and for each individual that will be a different decision made at differ times of their careers” he added.