London, 5 November (Hindustan Reporter). Despite Jos Buttler's return to the English team, Phil Salt will keep wickets in the T20 International series against West Indies.
White-ball captain Buttler has kept wicket in 106 of his last 108 T20 Internationals, and has only fielded in two matches which came in Trinidad during England's last tour of the Caribbean in December 2023.
“I haven't done much for England recently, but I like keeping wickets,” Salt said ahead of the third ODI in Barbados. I feel like I can contribute the most to the team.”
Salt has kept wickets in 13 of the 59 matches he has played for England across all formats and has been given the responsibility of keeping wickets in the current ODI series ahead of Jordan Cox, who will replace Test wicketkeeper Jamie Smith in the upcoming series in New Zealand. Will take.
Butler has been out of action for the last several months due to a calf strain. Had he been fit to play the T20 series against Australia in September, Salt would have kept wicket, as Buttler is keen to experiment with captaining from different positions on the field.
Buttler arrived in the Caribbean on Sunday and trained at the Kensington Oval on Monday. He is not available for selection for the decisive ODI on Wednesday and will take over the captaincy ahead of the five-match T20 series starting on Saturday, his first appearance since England's defeat in the T20 World Cup semi-final in June .
Essex wicketkeeper-batsman Michael Pepper, who was originally selected only for the ODI squad, has been included in the T20 squad and will remain with the group for the remainder of the tour.
As for whether his decision to retain the team is long-term, Salt said, “We have not had any conversations about moving forward. “I’m happy to do that right now.”
Salt scored 18 and 59 in the first two ODIs, with his half-century helping England chase a target of 329 in the second ODI.
After England were bowled out for 209 in the first match, captain Liam Livingstone criticized the performance, saying the team needed to “bat more intelligently”.
The ODI series against Australia in September was Salt's first experience of 50-over cricket since the Caribbean tour in December last year. The Hundred is being played alongside the One-Day Cup during the English summer, so many of England's new white-ball generation of players have little List A experience.
Salt explained the difficulty of re-adjusting to the required speed. “I don't think there are many players on this team that you can say 'Oh, they're doing a great job right now'. That's the truth of it because we haven't played a lot of 50-over cricket. I would love something like a domestic 50 over competition. I would love to have the opportunity to play into that so you can get a rhythm and it's not always intermittent. But this is what we have. As a player you have to adapt yourself.”
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