England head coach Matthew Mott suspects a switch from ODIs to T20s and a shift to the top of the order can get Jos Buttler firing on all cylinders again.
Buttler’s World Cup hangover followed him to the Caribbean with two single-figure scores either side of a sparkling unbeaten fifty in a new-look England side’s 2-1 ODI series defeat by the West Indies.
He was out for a golden duck in Saturday’s decider in Barbados, caught at fine-leg after an imprudent hook, bringing the England captain’s average down to a modest 18.09 in his last dozen innings.
With ODIs on the back-burner till September, England can focus on building towards the T20 World Cup in June with a five-match series against the co-hosts, where Buttler will be in his usual opening role.
“It’s always good when you lose a series to change the format, you move on pretty quickly,” Mott said ahead of the T20 series opener on Tuesday at the Kensington Oval.
“Jos showed his class the other day and he may well, at the top of the order, come out and take the bowling on as he has done for for a number of years.”
Will Jacks and Phil Salt have put on four opening stands of 50 or more in five ODIs, finding some fluency together in the manner predecessor Jason Roy did, first with Alex Hales then Jonny Bairstow.
The pair’s success invites speculation as to whether England could persevere with the pair in T20s and move Buttler down to number three in a reshuffle, but Mott dismissed the notion out of hand.
“Jos is a lock-in, definitely opening,” Mott said. “He’s proven over a very long period of time.
“It will be just what he needs to get up the top and really boss the game from the start and I know for a fact he’s looking forward to it.”
Mott’s position came under scrutiny after England’s shambolic World Cup and he has lost 18 ODIs in his tenure and won 16 – but five of those have been against non-Test playing Ireland and the Netherlands.
A series defeat against a side that did not qualify for the World Cup was another low moment but the success of this tour might be judged on how the T20s pan out with a more experienced bunch of players.
Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes and Tymal Mills are now in tow and, alongside Reece Topley, they trained in Bridgetown barely 12 hours after England’s rain-affected defeat at the same venue.
The quintet give England more depth with the ball, while Mills and Topley are attractive options at the death after their pacemen struggled at the back end in the ODI defeats in Antigua and Barbados.
On both occasions, England were in with a sniff of victory courtesy of their spinners – led by teenager Rehan Ahmed, who was described as “a bit of a revelation for us with the ball” on this tour by Mott.
But Sam Curran was flayed and recorded the most expensive ODI figures by an England bowler in the opener while Gus Atkinson leaked 24 in an over when the Windies needed 33 in 24 balls in the finale.
“We’ve got some really good (death bowling) options,” Mott added. “The guys getting an opportunity haven’t had a lot of opportunity in this format yet but I think they will be better for the experience.
“Sam’s definitely a player that we really want to invest in. He hasn’t missed too often at the death for us. But he’s that type of bowler that wants the ball in his hand at the back end.
“When you’ve got guys who want to do that, they’ll come out on top more often than they miss it as well.”
Andrew Flintoff is due into Barbados on Sunday night and is scheduled to be at training on Monday as he rejoins England’s coaching set-up in a paid role as a team mentor.
ECB chief insists no decision made on Mott future
England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Richard Gould has denied reports a decision has already been made on Matthew Mott's future as white-ball coach.
Mott's future has been called into question in the aftermath of England's failure to defend their T20 World Cup crown in the United States and West Indies, losing to India in the semi-finals.
Mott also oversaw England's calamitous 50-over World Cup campaign last year, as they lost six of their nine matches in India and crashed out in the group stage.
Reports earlier this week suggested the decision had already been made to dispense with Mott's services, with Eoin Morgan a contender to succeed him, though the former limited-overs captain has since said he has no interest in the role.
Asked by BBC Test Match Special if Mott's future had already been decided, Gould said: "That's not true. That's certainly not true.
"Matthew Mott is a really good guy and coach. He's got a great track record and it is the same with [captain] Jos [Buttler].
"We are always assessing options - that is what happens in high-performance sport, you are always assessing your options.
"You never want to be drawn into being given the dreaded vote of confidence or anything like that. Competitive sport always brings scrutiny and decisions.
"We'll constantly want to assess our options but we'll always want to do the right thing by the sport, the team and individuals."
West Indies grab three late wickets on day one as third Test against England in the balance
England lost three wickets in a dramatic end to day one of the third Test against West Indies, leaving them in a precarious position after restricting the tourists for 282.
Gus Atkinson finished with figures of 4-67, while Chris Woakes took 3-69 for England, as only a fine sixth-wicket stand from Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva saved West Indies from being bowled out for a much lower total.
But England, chasing a 3-0 series whitewash, let their dominant position slip when taking up the bat for the final 35 minutes, Zak Crawley (18), Ben Duckett (3) and Mark Wood (0) being dispatched as bowler Jayden Seales dropped them to 38-3.
Windies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite won the toss and chose to bat, leading his side to a solid start before a spell of three wickets in five overs before lunch put England on top.
Atkinson accounted for Mikyle Louis (26) and Alick Athanaze (2) on either side of Wood sending stumps flying with a full delivery to dismiss Kirk McKenize for 12.
Brathwaite's knock of 61 was brought to a halt shortly after the action resumed, the captain gloving Wood's leg-side ball to Jamie Smith as the tourists slid from 76-0 to 115-5 in 45 balls.
Holder (59) and Da Silva (49) then shared 108 to drag the Windies towards a respectable total, but things looked bleak for them when the latter feathered Woakes' ball through to Smith.
Having gone 30 overs without a wicket, England needed just 14 more to polish off the tail, the highlight being a terrific diving catch from Joe Root to send Gudakesh Motie (8) packing.
England were given just over half an hour with the bat to cap Friday's action, but any hopes of a serene finish were soon dashed.
Holder made two terrific catches off Seales' bowling, the first from Crawley's thick outside edge and the second to dismiss Wood for a duck, either side of Alzarri Joseph's cracking delivery accounting for Duckett.
That spell ensured what had been a good day for the hosts ended on a sour note, with the Windies sure to target quick wickets when the action resumes on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Atkinson and Seales dominate
This series began with all the focus on James Anderson as England's greatest-ever bowler bowed out at Lord's, but Atkinson has taken centre-stage since making his Test debut in the opening match and now has 20 wickets through five innings.
That is eight more than West Indies' Jayden Seales, the next-most prolific bowler in this series, has managed.
Seales was determined to have an impact on day one, though, and his two wickets at the death have set the stage for a far more competitive match than those England won at Lord's and Trent Bridge.
McAllister cannot see Klopp or Guardiola succeeding Southgate
Gary McAllister finds it hard to believe that either Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola will succeed Gareth Southgate as England manager.
Southgate, who led England to back-to-back European Championship finals, ended his eight-year tenure following their defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 showpiece.
The 53-year-old was often accused of a cautious approach despite only Walter Winterbottom (383) and Alf Ramsey (224) overseeing more England goals than his 213, with supporters wanting to see a more attack-minded manager take over.
And two of the names linked with the vacant position have been pioneers of Premier League football in recent years.
Klopp ended his nine-year stay at Liverpool in May to take a break from management, while some expect Guardiola to leave Manchester City at the end of his current deal, which expires next year.
The pair have won 653 games between them and shared 25 major honours during their time in England and could be seen as the ideal candidates to end the Three Lions' 58-year wait for silverware.
However, former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder McAllister believes Klopp and Guardiola are unlikely to become England's next manager.
McAllister, who played 57 times for his nation, believes supporters would prefer an English manager at the helm.
"I think people are linking Jurgen with the England job purely because he has experience working in the English Premier League," McAllister told Stats Perform.
"He's worked with elite players for many years now at Dortmund and at Liverpool. So people are putting two and two together.
"Personally, I don't see it happening and I think I also see that there were links to Pep Guardiola and I don't see Pep managing England either.
"It's hard for me to comment on this because I'm obviously not English, I'm Scottish.
"The people I speak to within the game, there is a feeling that the manager of England should come from St George's Park, which is the headquarters of English football, the FA and all the coaching programmes that they have there.
"Why would you have all this and then put a manager not from England in? I think most of the people in England are looking for an English manager."
The Three Lions' next game is a Nations League clash with the Republic of Ireland in September, with Finland their next opponents three days later.
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