Jos Buttler has said England intend to meet Australia’s phalanx of fast bowlers with aggression on Saturday and admitted the prospect of knocking them out of the Champions Trophy provides an extra layer of motivation.
With the top spot in Group A sewn up and a semi-final in Cardiff next Wednesday now booked following the 87-run win against New Zealand, Eoin Morgan’s side have earned a pressure-free shot at sending Australia home early when the two sides meet at a sold-out Edgbaston. Steve Smith’s world champions, whose opening two matches have been ruined by rain, feature a pace attack that could include Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins and which has thus far been unable to accommodate the talents of James Pattinson.
Asked about the chance to end Australia’s campaign, Buttler said: “Yes, it would be nice. We will not think too much about that. We want to win and keep our momentum going no matter who we play. But it is always nice to know that would be the outcome if we did win.
“They are a very good side and one to be respected but we always focus on ourselves, what we can do well, and will not change our style of cricket. We will keep trying to take them on. They have got some good pace bowlers but we will try and be aggressive with the bat.”
England’s reward for beating New Zealand is a day off from training on Thursday for the team that played, while Australia started their preparations on Wednesday with a full session at Edgbaston – a ground they have not won at in any format since 2001.
“We have got some good memories of playing there,” said Buttler. “It is a ground we like playing at, which is one of the advantages of being at home, isn’t it? We have to make the most of that.”
It was Buttler who turned England’s first innings against New Zealand in Cardiff into a match-winning total, with his unbeaten 61 from 48 balls steering his side to 310 all out on a pitch that did not suit his fluent stroke-play, and in winds that reached 55mph.
In a tournament yet to come fully to life, Buttler did provide one moment for the highlights reel when a scoop for six had the cameraman on the raised gantry at the river Taff end ducking for cover – a first, said the batsman, from that particular shot. “I have not done that from a scoop shot before,” he said. “It is something I try and work hard on and with the wind it was quite helpful. It is good form when it comes off.”
Adil Rashid has admitted he might have struggled with being dropped for England’s opening fixture against Bangladesh when he was younger but instead demonstrated his maturity when returning to face New Zealand and delivering one of his most accomplished international performances to date in his 10 overs, two for 47.
England may publicly claim the end justified the means, but it felt a duff call in what has been an otherwise impressive march to the semi-finals. Any fears over the impact on his previous exclusion were misplaced, however: “When I was younger, 10 years ago, maybe [I would have taken it badly]. But I think now, because of the way the team is, we back each other whether we play or not, it’s all together – 15 in the squad.”
Rashid has been a player saddled by expectation ever since he spun Yorkshire to victory over Warwickshire on his first-class debut with a six-wicket haul at Scarborough in 2006. While a brief international spell followed three years later – including the World Twenty20 that summer – it is a wiser and more relaxed cricketer turning out for his country these days.
“As you get older, play more, you experience more situations in games and how to react to them,” said Rashid, whose 47 caps have now yielded 65 wickets, 62 of which have come in the last two years. “Over the years I have gone better and when things don’t go quite so well, that experience can kick in.
“Sometimes when you don’t play, you think: ‘I’ve got to make sure I perform in the next game.’ But for me it wasn’t so much that. My mind was clear because I’ve been in this position before. I knew I needed to go out, relax, do what I have to do – bowl, mix it up, variations.”