20 October - Mumbai - England Captain Jos Buttler pre-match press conference
[Reporter:]
Quite a long break since the game. Are you guys kind of hungry and eager to get back out on the pitch and put whatever right from last time?
[Jos Buttler:]
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, obviously, we had a few days to let the defeat sink in and moved on and focused, we had some good conversations and the energy and hunger around practice last night was very high.
[Reporter:]
Do you expect this game to have quite a bit of energy to it? Because South Africa, following your result, had a similar kind of setback of their own and I guess what we're going to find is two teams with quite a lot to play for.
[Jos Buttler:]
Yeah, absolutely I'm sure it'll be a fantastic contest I think a lot of time as well I always say we look at the opposition but a lot of focus on ourselves. And we've had some good conversations about how we want to play our cricket, how we want to commit to the style that we play. And that's always more important than the results. We put ourselves out there, we compete, the opposition want to win games of cricket as well. So, we know we won't always win. But if we can stick to the way that we like to play our cricket and get to the best version of that, we know that that's the best chance that we have of getting the positive results.
[Reporter:]
And obviously Ben has been right back into it now and looks as far as we're aware ready to go which is good news for the team but it maybe gives you a few ponderers in terms of how to balance up that team how tricky has it been working that part out?
[Jos Buttler:]
Yeah, I think I've got so many options within the squad selection it is always tough and you're working out the right balance, always venue dependent as well so been a good chance to see the wicket here today and gather a bit more information as well. But obviously Ben trained really well last night. It's great to see him back. He obviously brings a lot on the field and with his presence and leadership skills as well as someone who is always good to turn to.
So, he adds a lot of value.
[Reporter:]
And just compared to the venues you've been to, obviously you've been around the IPL traps a lot of times. Is this a good venue for England, somewhere where you really feel like you can dictate terms, and play your game?
[Jos Buttler:]
Yeah, absolutely. I think this is one of the great grounds in India. I love playing cricket here. I think it's a fantastic cricket wicket. So yeah, absolutely, it should suit us.
[Reporter:]
It was a little while ago now, but there was a great game here between the same teams in the T20 World Cup in 2016. Just wanted to ask your memories of that and when you were talking about the fearless style that England play, presumably that night, albeit in a different format, was a good example of what you've been talking about.
[Jos Buttler:]
Yeah, absolutely, fantastic game. One of my favourite games that I think had a lot of value in terms of where we were going as a team and the direction we wanted to play. So great memories of that night, albeit a long time ago. And absolutely, that style is a different format. We want to find ways to make a play, to put the opposition under pressure in lots of different ways. That doesn't always mean hitting fours and sixes, it means can we push back when the opposition is on top or can we really take the initiative in different ways and that's what we want to live by as a team. We know when we commit to that that gives us the best chance of positive results as I said earlier.
[Reporter:]
You talk in very kind of glowing terms about Chris Woakes in the aftermath of defeat, obviously a guy who's played a big part in English White ball success in particular, but maybe struggling for a little bit of form. How have those kind of conversations gone this weekend? And what are the kind of skills and characteristics of someone like him that gives you the faith to perhaps go again this week?
[Jos Buttler:]
Yeah, obviously history - he's been a fantastic performer for an incredibly long time for England in all the formats and especially in one day cricket. And we're all honest guys, right? We're all honest professionals who hold each other to high standards and individually expect a lot of ourselves and he knows he's not performing quite how he would like to at the minute and that's frustrating but there's no judgment from our side we always back all our players that are in our team - we picked them for a number of reasons and one because they're high-class players and he's certainly one of those.
[Reporter:]
When you look at South Africa, what do you see as their particular strengths as a team?
[Jos Buttler:]
Yeah, I think they've been they've been playing some really good cricket I think obviously the top six is a very strong top six and I think pace with the ball is one of their strengths. It's something I think both teams like as well. We have pace in both attacks and both teams like pace on the ball so as well it should be a really fascinating contest. They're a really good team. You always expect tough challenge when you play against South Africa and it's going to be a brilliant game.
[Reporter:]
Based on that, how surprised were you then by their defeat last time out?
[Jos Buttler:]
Yeah, surprised. I think you're always surprised when those kind of things happen. No disrespect to the Netherlands. They played a fantastic game of cricket and deserved to win it. So, I think you always have to give credit to the opposition in that instance. The bookies' favourites, I'm sure, would have been South Africa on the day. But that's why sport is fantastic. It throws up these upsets. And everyone's on the same field trying to compete and win the game and you have to give credit to the opposition.
[Reporter:]
It felt like in Delhi you read a bit too much into the way the pitch had played in previous games. I expected it to be similar and got punished maybe as a result. Obviously, that's not an issue here. Would you have liked to have that kind of guidance here or to give you maybe more clarity that it's a fresh start?
[Jos Buttler:]
I think trying to read conditions and get a handle on what may or may not happen is always something you're trying to do as a team and as an individual and get a read on how it might play. But always the skill is to react on the day, absolutely. You can go in with preconceived ideas and it's not sort of committing to them fully. You've got to communicate well as a team, understand as an individual how the pitch is playing, what the conditions are like. They're all parts of the game that are vitally important.
So, you try and gather as much information as you can before and history is history and it's about the game in front of you.
[Reporter:]
About the last matches, you mentioned South Africa's defeat as a surprise, but if you look at your result as well as South Africa's, would you dismiss it as one of those freak results at a World Cup, or were you able to identify any particular reason or reasons why at least England lost?
[Jos Buttler:]
No, we've very much moved on and we're fully focused on the game tomorrow night. We can't change what happened in the previous game. We trained really well yesterday; we train well again today and there's a lot of excitement for the game tomorrow.
[Reporter:]
You have scored nearly 900 runs on this ground in the IPL and international cricket, most of the runs as an opener. So, any thoughts of you moving back to the opening position?
[Jos Buttler:]
No, none at all. We've got some fantastic openers in our team. It's certainly a ground I've enjoyed playing at before. I started my IPL journey here with Mumbai as well, so it's always a place with fond memories. I think it's a fantastic cricket ground and looking forward to playing here tomorrow.