Jos Buttler goes into Thursday’s World Cup opener against New Zealand dreaming of ‘creating something new’ as England look for a third global trophy in four years – despite a new injury cloud descending on Ben Stokes.
England’s star all-rounder cut a peripheral figure in an evening training session at the vast Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday after suffering a left hip problem that is likely to rule him out of the match screen and raises questions about his readiness for the remainder of their title defense .
Buttler suggested this is ‘not the time to take big risks with anyone at the start of the tournament’ as each team faces nine group matches before the semi-finals start on November 15. The result is that Harry Brook, himself a late replacement for the injured Jason Roy, is set to make his 50-over World Cup debut.
But of particular interest will be the fact that Stokes has until now been battling a chronic left knee problem that has made him a specialist batsman. The hip problem first emerged during England’s warm-up match against Bangladesh in Guwahati on Monday, although Stokes only asked team medics for help on Tuesday.
As he trained in the outfield, it seemed unthinkable that he would be exposed to the fray of a World Cup opener pitting the two finalists from the 2019 Lord’s thriller. His next target is Tuesday’s match against Bangladesh in Dharamshala.
England captain Jos Buttler is confident ahead of the World Cup opener against New Zealand
But even Stokes’ latest fitness crisis cannot dampen Buttler’s enthusiasm as he attempts to make history.
England is already the first men’s team to host both World Cups simultaneously. But if they prevail this time, culminating in the final here in Ahmedabad on November 19, Buttler will become the first captain to lead a team to glory in both white-ball formats.
India remain favorites to lift a trophy that has been won by the host nations in every edition since 2011. But England, despite falling to fifth in the table, led the chasing pack and Buttler issued two rallying cries on the eve of the competition.
The first was that he doesn’t want to talk in terms of the title “defense,” since the noun he usually prefers is “attack.” The second is that the past is a different country, even though as many as six of Thursday’s players took part in England’s victory under Eoin Morgan against New Zealand four years ago.
“The past is the past,” Buttler said. “You can’t recreate something or hold on to it forever. It’s all about something new. It’s fantastic to be reigning champions and I won’t say we’ve put that completely behind us because it’s a fun place to be.
“But you’ve given that trophy back now. It’s finished. It’s about creating something new. We must be hungry to do it again.”
Ben Stokes is likely to miss the match due to a minor hip problem
Asked whether England fans were right to dream of another World Cup success, Buttler said: ‘Absolutely, we are all dreamers and we all want to be able to say those things. The most important thing is that we know that we are a team that likes to be in that position where there are expectations. It’s a great place to be.’
The 13th One-day World Cup begins amid rumors of the format’s impending demise, caught in no man’s land between the rigors of Test cricket and the adrenaline rush of T20.
If there are too many empty seats on Thursday in a stadium whose capacity of more than 130,000 is the world’s largest, those rumors will inevitably increase.
But for the players, the 50-overs World Cup still trumps the T20 edition. And England were too busy putting together their best team to worry too much about the bigger picture.
Buttler dreams of ‘creating something new’ as England chase a third trophy in four years
With dew being a factor at this time of year in North India, teams may be averse to bowling second under lights with a spin-heavy attack, which could be bad news for Moeen Ali, and both Sam Curran if Reece Topley could bring into the equation.
New Zealand, meanwhile, remain without their striker Kane Williamson, who is in India but has yet to fully recover from a cruciate ligament injury, and their veteran Tim Southee, who broke a thumb in the 3-1 ODI defeat in England last year. month.
The relevance of that series will diminish even further in Stokes’ absence as it was his pulsating 182 off 124 balls that put England in control in the third match at The Oval.
But Stokes or no Stokes, Buttler’s team have their eyes on the ball – and a prize that would see them go down in history as perhaps the greatest white-ball side of all time.