Paul Farbrace, England’s assistant coach, has backed Jos Buttler to overcome the poor run of form with the bat that has put his place in the Test team under scrutiny.
The wicketkeeper-batsman endured a tough second half of the English summer, averaging only 15.25 during the Ashes and then being pulled out of the subsequent one-day series against Australia just two games in after scores of four and nought.
Buttler’s abrupt end to the summer was, say England, to provide him with some much-needed rest following a heavy workload and the mentally draining effect of a first Ashes series.
However, the 25-year-old’s fortunes with the bat did not improve in England’s first game of this tour as he lasted three balls before being dismissed for one against Pakistan A in Sharjah on Monday.
Buttler has shown a marked improvement behind the stumps since making his Test debut against India in Southampton last year, but the focus on his glovework has had a detrimental effect on the batting.
He has little time to find form with just one more innings, in England’s final two-day warm-up match starting in Sharjah on Thursday, before the first Test against Pakistan begins in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Farbrace, though, is unconcerned. “Ideally, we’d have loved Jos to have got runs,” he said. “I think the break from cricket has done him the world of good, he’s refreshed and raring to go. I think he’s very close to a score. We know how talented he is.
“He’s someone coming in down the order in these conditions who can really take a game away [from the opposition].
“We want him playing well as quickly as possible. It’s not through lack of hard work. I do think freshening him up, having a bit of a break, has done him the world of good, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a score was round the corner.”
One man who could have a positive effect on Buttler’s batting is Mahela Jayawardene, who has been brought in by England as a consultant for the first part of this tour.
The Sri Lankan has a wealth of experience behind him, particularly in the Asian conditions where he learned his craft, not to mention 34 Test centuries and more than 25,000 international runs.
Both Trevor Bayliss, England’s coach, and Farbrace know Jayawardene well from their time with Sri Lanka. All three were on the team bus that was attacked by terrorists in Lahore in 2009, the incident that forced Pakistan to move their home Tests to the United Arab Emirates on security grounds.
Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s captain on that fateful day, worked again with Farbrace last year when the 48-year-old took over as Sri Lanka’s coach, winning the 2014 World Twenty20 before being poached by England. “Mahela’s been outstanding,” said Farbrace. “He’s a top-quality bloke, he’s given to everybody. Not just the batters against spin. He’s talked to slip fielders about where to stand, he’s talked about when the ball is reversing, how the Pakistani side look to play. He’s given us some thoughts, which has been great.
“He’s just a good bloke and has shared every bit of knowledge he’s got. He’s thoroughly enjoyed it, it’s probably the first time he’s been involved with coaching.
“We’ve given him a bit of stick tonight because he has a sore elbow from a bit of throwing. We’ve been telling him that’s what it’s like on this side of the fence. He’s fitted in brilliantly and his communication is outstanding.
“He is Sri Lanka’s best ever captain, so tactically he’s been great. He’s talked about some of the things that Sri Lanka have employed against the Pakistan side before and just things that our guys wouldn’t necessarily have thought about.”
In terms of technical advice about batting in Asian conditions, Jayawardene has kept his message simple. “The thing that he’s talked about is that, on slow pitches, the key is not to over-hit it,” said Farbrace. “Rather than trying to hit the ball harder because the ball is not getting to you as easily as it might do at home, the key is to let the ball come a bit more, hitting more under your nose, actually looking to bunt the ball into gaps.
“If you see a long hop, the natural reaction is to pull it as hard as you can. On slow pitches, you see the ball nicked and caught behind or caught slip, whatever.
“Rather than whacking it and nicking behind, he’s talking about letting the ball come, hitting it as late as you can, guide it into gaps. You’re only going to get one anyway.
“They are the very simple things that he’s talked about. And it is simple. It’s not rocket science. We’re coming here knowing it’s going to be a very, very tough series. I said at the end of the Australian series I expected this to be a tougher series for us to play in.”
It is simple advice that could make all the difference for England’s batsmen against Pakistan, particularly Buttler.
