Morgan’s decision won’t divide us: Buttler

Jos Buttler has insisted Eoin Morgan remains ‘very much the captain’ of England’s ODI team and confirmed that he will happily hand back the leadership after the tour of Bangladesh.

Buttler was appointed captain of the England ODI side for the tour after Morgan, England’s official captain in the format for the last 18 months, pulled out citing fears over the security of the team following a terrorist attack in Dhaka. Alex Hales, the opening batsman, also pulled out of the tour.

But Buttler is adamant that the decision will not create a divide in the dressing room and said he harbours no ambitions of replacing Morgan as captain in the short-term.

Instead, he credits Morgan as the ‘main reason’ behind England’s recent improvement in white-ball cricket and says the team is united in its respect for the ‘personal decision’ that has been taken.

‘This definitely won’t divide the dressing room,’ Buttler said. ‘We’re a tight-knit group of guys and we will stay that way. Everyone’s very good friends in that set-up and we want it to remain that way. We won’t let anything like this come between any of us in the side.

‘We’re all working towards the Champions Trophy here next summer and the World Cup a couple of years later. The players in that dressing room want to be winning that trophy together. That’s everyone’s aim.

‘Eoin Morgan remains captain of the ODI side. I fully expect he will take up the reins again when he is available. He’s very much the captain of the team. We’ve made fantastic progress under him. He’s very much the captain of the team in my eyes.’

Buttler admits he ‘ummed and ahhed’ over the decision of whether to go on the tour himself. But after discussing it with other team members as well as friends and family, he opted to take his place.

‘It’s been a tough decision for everyone,’ he said. ‘Reading things in the press and having a lot of information about it, you do have some worries. There are bigger things in the world than cricket and these are things that, as cricketers, we haven’t experienced.

‘We are a very close team and we did have some discussions. We talked about people’s worries and about how they felt. At the end of the day it is a completely personal decision and everyone respects whatever decision people have made and that is all you can say. Everyone has made an individual decision.

‘As a group we spoke about how everyone will respect whatever individual decision is made and we’ll back everyone 100%.’

Buttler also expressed ‘surprise’ at the harshness of some of the criticism directed at Morgan, in particular, in the media.

‘There has been some unfair criticism,’ he said. ‘Cricket is not the be all and end all. He has made the decision that is right for him and it is not one he has taken lightly. He has come to one which he is comfortable with and people should respect that.

‘It sounds as if people don’t understand the closeness of our dressing room because this definitely won’t create a divide. We’re a very, very tight group of players, according to ESPNcricinfo.

‘Eoin has been one of the main reasons, if not the main reason, for the turnaround in fortunes. The style of cricket he’s got the side playing is something we want to continue and keep playing that brand of cricket. He has done a fantastic job over the last 18 months. I’m definitely happy to relinquish the captaincy once he comes back.’