Less than six months after hitting its peak, Jos Buttler’s limited-overs international career is irrefutably in decline.
The burning question, however, is whether the drastic loss of form for one of the most destructive players of his generation is irreversible. The answer will have ramifications for England’s dwindling hopes of becoming Twenty20 world champions for a record third time.
It was only last September that a sweetly savage innings of 83 against South Africa on his home ground of Old Trafford catapulted Buttler’s T20 international batting average to a career-high 36.28. His career strike-rate ascended to 149.43; it has never hit 150.
Now 35, Buttler is not only in a slump, but the worst sequence since establishing himself as a top-three player with England. There have been 11 innings since the Manchester masterclass without a 50. His only two comparable famines in a 151-match career came more than a decade ago when he was deployed in a middle-order role.
The most recent of 11 appearances without a half-century ran from March 2014 to February 2016, a period in which he batted once at No 4, six times at No 5 and four at No 6. For the only longer dearth you must go right back to the opening 15 matches of his career, between 2011-2013 when he came in at five, six or seven.
Now 35, Jos Buttler is not only in a slump, but the worst sequence since establishing himself as a top-three player with England
Twenty20 is a game that encourages risk to earn reward, but Buttler’s timing when going aerial has lacked its customary precision
It would be foolhardy to declare with any confidence that he is now in terminal decline, not least because his record places him in the very highest bracket of players globally: of those to have played 100 T20 international innings, only Indians Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav plus Pakistan’s Babar Azam have superior averages to his 34.5.
Just recall how spectacularly Kohli roared back to form when his powers appeared to be diminishing post Test retirement. But Buttler’s malaise extends to 50-over productivity too, with five innings for England since the end of last summer delivering 103 runs.
At this World Cup, Buttler has 53 in four visits to the crease as his long-term policy of taking a few balls to assess conditions – in contrast to his opening partner Phil Salt whose party piece is to hit a boundary from his first – has run aground.
It is one that has delivered success here, in the form of seven Indian Premier League hundreds – the most by a foreigner. This month, though, every time he breaks out, he gets out, and the repetitive nature of his dismissals is also a cause for concern.
Twenty20 is a game that encourages risk to earn reward, but Buttler’s timing when going aerial has lacked its customary precision. Against both Scotland and Italy at Eden Gardens, blows down the ground were miscued to mid-off. Prior to that, he failed to clear long-on going for back-to-back sixes off West Indies’ off-spinner Roston Chase in Mumbai. He also skied a couple in New Zealand last autumn.
This has been more damaging for England because it has coincided with a dip for Salt since the World Cup began.
At this World Cup, Buttler has 53 in four visits to the crease as his long-term policy of taking a few balls to assess conditions has run aground
Buttler’s woes have piled the pressure on the likes of Tom Banton in the England middle order
At their best, they dovetail beautifully. It was Buttler’s 30-ball carnage against the South Africans that set up the first ever score of 300 between two full member countries and Salt who saw it over the line with a career-best, unbeaten 141 – legitimising them as the most damaging first-wicket alliance on the global scene.
However, they have been separated at a rate of once every 10.5 balls here, forcing others like Tom Banton, Sam Curran and Will Jacks to scramble together the runs for passage to the Super Eights.
With the pressure and quality of opponents about to be ramped up, though, how England could do with their senior batsman rediscovering that influential form of old.
