Jos Buttler Admits ‘Feeling The Pressure’ Over Place in England Test Squad

England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler on Saturday said he was ‘feeling the pressure’ over his place in the team after failing to score runs in the last few Tests. Buttler has a reputation as a swashbuckling batsman in the limited-over games but had averaged only 18 runs in his last seven Tests since replacing Jonny Bairstow as wicketkeeper in New Zealand last November.

The 29-year-old, however, played a crucial 67-run knock on the opening day of the deciding Test at Old Trafford against West Indies to help England recover after they were reduced to 122/4. He and Ollie Pope shared a 140-run stand to take England past the 250-mark.

Asked whether he was fretting about his place in the team, Buttler said: “Yes, naturally, but I think time in the middle gives you confidence and obviously I hadn’t been doing that.”

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“But I think it’s more about doing a job for your team which I’m very aware of and if you are not quite performing as well as you want, you realise you’re not doing your job as well as you should be for your team.

“I was definitely feeling pressure. I’ve played long enough now to understand when you’re under pressure and it’s on your shoulders and how to deal with it,” he told Sky Sports.

Buttler, who has scored 2211 runs in 43 Tests and 3843 runs in 142 ODIs so far, said trusting his defence was the key.

“The only time I’ve had success at test level is when I’ve trusted my defence,” he said.

“Lots of people expect me to play a certain way because of the way I play in one-day cricket but I’ve never seen Test cricket in that way.”

Buttler was eventually dismissed for 67 early on day two by Kemar Roach.