Jos Buttler happy to hand over England captaincy to Eoin Morgan after Bangladesh tour
Despite Eoin Morgan’s decision to pull out off the upcoming Bangladesh tour receiving severe backlash from former England players, stand-in skipper Jos Buttler has asked his team-mates to get behind the left-hander. The wicket-keeper batsman dismissed fears of the situation affecting the dressing room atmosphere and instead placed faith on their friendship to help them keep the team unity intact.
Buttler insisted, “This definitely won't divide the dressing room. We're a tight-knit group of guys and we will stay that way. Everyone's very good friends in that set-up and we want it to remain that way. We won't let anything like this come between any of us in the side. We're all working towards the Champions Trophy here next summer and the World Cup a couple of years later. The players in the dressing room want to be winning that trophy together. That's everyone's aim.”
He added, “Eoin Morgan remains captain of the ODI side. I fully expect he will take up the reins again when he is available. He's very much the captain of the team. We've made fantastic progress under him. He's very much the captain of the team in my eyes.“
Following a meticulous assessment by a security delegation, ECB cleared the trip to Bangladesh which comprises of 3 ODIs and 2 Tests. Though team director Andrew Strauss warned of consequences against those who make themselves unavailable, limited-overs captain Morgan as well as opener Alex Hales withdrew from the tour.
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Backing their decision, Buttler believed, “It's been a tough decision for everyone. Reading things in the press and having a lot of information about it, you do have some worries. There are bigger things in the world than cricket and these are things that as cricketers, we haven't experienced. As a group, we spoke about how everyone will respect whatever individual decision is made and we'll back everyone 100 percent.”
However, the media have not been as forgiving with Morgan’s double standards attracting stinging criticism from various quarters with question marks also extrapolating to his emigration from Ireland in 2009.
A disgruntled Buttler questioned, “There has been some unfair criticism. Cricket is not the be all and end all. He has made the decision that is right for him and it is not one he has taken lightly. He has come to one which he is comfortable with and people should respect that.”
“Eoin has been one of the main reasons, if not the main reason, for the turnaround in fortunes. The style of cricket he's got the side playing is something we want to continue and keep playing that brand of cricket. He has done a fantastic job over the last 18 months. I'm definitely happy to relinquish the captaincy once he comes back.”