OPINION
Follow UsFour months ago, Jos Buttler did not know if he'd be traveling Down Under to play in The Ashes. It is now a certainty that he will be a part of the playing XI in the first Test at the Gabba on Wednesday, but what continues to remain uncertain is the magnitude of the impact England can expect the 31-year-old to have on the side, despite the ‘Universe Jos’, in three days’ time, set to play the 54th Test match of his career.
Not for the first time, England will be laying blind faith on the talent and experience of Buttler, hoping that he somehow ‘clicks’. It is a move that has left them charred on many occasions, but for the Three Lions, it is that time of the year again where they deem the past inconsequential and indulge in unrelenting optimism.
Optimism that Buttler will, finally, bring to the fore in Test cricket the same presence he does in the shorter formats of the game.
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It was more than seven years ago that Buttler donned the whites for the first time and between 2014 and now, England have tried everything within their power to make the right-hander click in the longest format.
They’ve played him with and without the gloves, batted him up and down the order, given him the license to kill, moved around the best players in the side in order to accommodate him and provided him with the longest of ropes despite extended patches of consistent failures. They’ve handed him so many opportunities that, since his debut, only 20 cricketers have played more Tests.
All this, of course, has not been without reason. There have been times when Buttler has genuinely looked like he belongs to the Test level.
Such as in 2018 where he finished as England’s second-highest run-getter with 760 runs, but with an average (44.70) better than anyone else. That year he registered 7 fifty-plus scores in just 18 innings (crossed 35 in 55% of his knocks) and also batted at a strike rate of nearly 70, underlining his ability to be a consistently impactful match-winner.
Or a year ago where he was having the kind of presence in the side that justified his selection. Match-winning contributions against West Indies and Pakistan at home were followed by more impactful showings against Sri Lanka in the sub-continent, and the run of form was convincing enough to make an individual believe that he was very close to cracking the Test cricket code.
Yet, the ‘one step forward, two steps backwards’ nature of his Test career means that Buttler will enter this Ashes the same way he did the previous one: with there being questions surrounding his ability to be a successful long-format cricketer, still needing to prove to the world that he can cut it in Test cricket.
The India series three months ago was a chance for him to end the debate once and for all. He began the series with no red-ball cricket under his belt, but entered having enjoyed an exceptional last few months in whites, having averaged 50.08 across 9 matches.
With the quality of attack India had at their disposal, a strong showing would not only have put to bed all doubts about Buttler's Test credentials, but also potentially have helped him quash any insecurity and kick-on to the next level.
But it turned out to be a series where he went back to square one again as he averaged 14.40, the lowest among all specialist (or keeper) batters in the series who batted at least 5 times. Most concerningly, he looked perpetually lost every time he walked out to bat, unsure what exactly his identity as a Test batter was.
It was an unwanted callback to the calendar year 2019, where he averaged 25.10 across 20 innings. Ironically, that too came on the back of one of his better runs in Test cricket.
Heading into the first Test in Brisbane, a place where Australia have not lost an Ashes Test in 44 years, England already have plenty of headaches to contend with.
They have a top three that is unsettled, and are still undecided over who among Jonny Bairstow and Ollie Pope should be starting the series. They do not know the extent to which they can trust their lead spinner, Jack Leach, and are still in two minds over fielding Anderson and Broad together.
Not to mention, they will be entering the first Test on the back of little to no match practice after the weather gods in Queensland ensured that they spent two-thirds of their time during the warm-up matches sitting in the dressing room.
Amidst all this, the uncertainty around Buttler adds to their woes. And the Three Lions have no one but themselves to blame, for it is they who have been stubborn in making the Buttler experiment work in Test cricket.
The Brisbane Test will mark Buttler’s 11th against Australia and he already has the infamous reputation of being an Ashes flop, having averaged 20.50 in 10 Ashes Tests to date. Those numbers are certainly salvageable, but in order to do so, he will have to not just considerably bat out of his skin, but do it in a country where he’s never previously set foot on as a Test cricketer.
It is the ultimate trial by fire. England’s faith will be vindicated if Buttler passes it, but it might be time for the Three Lions to part ways with him once and for all in Tests should he, like so many of his predecessors, get burnt by the flames.
