Whether England sink or swim over the last three matches of the T20 World Cup, they will have done so under Jos Buttler's total command.
The England captain delivered the personal masterclass of batting and tactical decision-making against New Zealand that his players felt had been coming since taking over the top job from Eoin Morgan. But until Buttler actually produced it in the high pressure environment of a World Cup, both he and his players would have been left waiting for confirmation.
There was a natural period of transition for Buttler to go through as he took over the reins full time, and with difficult results over the summer, it perhaps didn’t go quite as smoothly as he hoped.
But with his decision to recall Alex Hales paying off with England’s first fifty of the tournament, so too has his shift from being a chasing team to one that can set and defend a score.
“It definitely feels like Jos has stamped his authority on the team a bit more,” said Chris Woakes, who claimed 2-33 against New Zealand. “Obviously Morgs was in charge for such a long period of time how he went about it became the norm as were the teams he selected to take out with him in the middle.
“There has been a few changes under Jos, particularly in this tournament. I thought the last game was a big one for him as captain and he’s come through it really, really well.
“He made some big calls, some big decisions and played fantastically well himself. I’m really pleased for him.
“Taking over from Morgs, who had a successful reign as captain and has done so much for the game, he must have felt the pressure of that, there’s no doubt about that. So I’m really pleased for him that we’ve come through and we are in the position we are in where we can hopefully make it to the knockout stages and see where we can go.”
England will need to collect two more points from their final match of the group stage against Sri Lanka on Saturday to reach the semi-finals just as they did in 2019 when they had to beat the Kiwis in the 50-over tournament.
Unlike in the final that was to follow, England trounced the Blackcaps in a 119-run win before producing their very best match in the semi over Australia, and that experience is something several players will be able to lean on this week.
“I think it's good to have that kind of experience,” added Woakes. “For the guys involved we know that we can do it again.
“Once we got into those games and started well and got into the rhythm, we then found our best form and made it the best part of our tournament. Hopefully we can do more of the same here because T20 cricket is a big momentum game.”
