Jos Buttler has defended the selection that left him with just four specialist bowling options as Australia pulled off a record chase against England cricket in the Champions Trophy 2025. The England skipper Jos Buttler had been left with limited bowling options by a selection that prioritised batting depth, with Liam Livingstone and Joe Root combining as Jos Buttler’s fifth bowler in a squad light on all-rounders.
England captain Jos Buttler does not feel he has limited options in bowling, but wants his bowlers to stop leaking boundaries that ease pressure on the opposition after Saturday’s loss to Australia in the Champions Trophy in Lahore. A seam attack formed entirely of right arm quicks has also faced criticism for being one-note, with Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and, particularly, Brydon Carse all expensive on the day.
England faced defeat from Australia despite scoring 351 runs with their batting
Led by Josh Inglis’s outstanding hundred, Australia hauled in England’s imposing total of 351 with two and a half overs to spare in Lahore to take a significant step towards the semi-finals of the condensed competition. Jos Buttler’s side had seemed well set to open their campaign with a victory after Ben Duckett’s 165 set up a sizeable score, but they were unable to ever slow Australia’s scoring rate before Glenn Maxwell blasted them over the line.
Josh Inglis scored an unbeaten century as Australia chased down England’s total of 351 for eight to clinch a thrilling five-wicket win in their campaign opener, with English quicks Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse bleeding most of the runs. Spinner Adil Rashid was the most economical of the bowlers for England, while Joe Root and Liam Livingstone also conceded runs below Australia’s required rate of more than seven per over.
The England skipper had been left with limited bowling options by a selection that prioritised batting depth, with Liam Livingstone and Joe Root combining as Buttler’s fifth bowler in a squad light on all-rounders. A seam attack formed entirely of right arm quicks has also faced criticism for being one-note, with Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and, particularly, Brydon Carse all expensive on the day.
Jos Buttler defends England selection but pinpoints where bowlers must improve after Australia defeat in Champions Trophy 2025
Jos Buttler did his best to offer an upbeat appraisal of England’s record-breaking defeat by Australia in their Champions Trophy opener, insisting belief in the squad remains strong despite being left with no more breathing room in the tournament.
Powerless to prevent Josh Inglis’s unbeaten 86-ball 120 from reeling in a target of 352 – the highest successful run chase in a men’s ICC event – Jos Buttler credited his opponents in the main. He also tipped Ben Duckett, 165 from 143 balls in a total of 351 for eight, to become the first Englishman to score a double-century in ODI cricket.
Duckett doing so against Afghanistan or South Africa next week would be pretty handy for Buttler, it must be said. The two remaining Group A games – first here in Lahore, before a switch to Karachi – have now become must-win affairs, for England’s semi-final hopes and possibly his own continuation as captain.
England’s bowling attack struggled, with Brydon Carse’s seven overs costing 69 runs as he struggled with the reoccurrence of a toe injury that has since ruled him out of the rest of the competition, while Archer (1-82) had numerous spells off the field with cramp before bowling an expensive final five overs.
Jofra Archer, a star performer in England’s 2019 50-over World Cup win, has spent much of the subsequent six years on the sidelines due to a persistent elbow injury and a stress fracture to his back suffered in 2022. But Jos Buttler insisted that he did not feel he was lacking in options, even if the England captain admitted his attack must improve.
“I didn’t feel short at all. No, we liked the balance of the team that we went with. I thought Root and Livingstone bowled really well, built some nice pressure there together,” Buttler said.
“I just think, you’ve got to sometimes credit the opposition. I thought Josh Inglis played a fantastic innings.
England had Australia under pressure with the 50-over world champions losing two early wickets, but the game turned on its head as Inglis and Alex Carey built a 146-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
” I thought there were a few phases in the game where we bowled really nicely in partnerships and we starved them of the boundaries and that created chances.
“A couple of times, I was just trying to find a way of just reducing that boundary in the over and any time the pressure came, they managed to play a really good shot or get away.
“I think that’s always the focus for me as a captain and as a bowling unit, just ways that we can restrict that extra boundary in the over to keep pushing the scoreboard pressure up there.”
Leg-spinner Adil Rashid was England’s standout with the ball, with exceptional figures of 1-47 from his 10-over allocation in a high-scoring affair. England face Afghanistan at the same venue in their second fixture on Wednesday, before concluding their group stage efforts against South Africa next Saturday. The top two finishers in Group B will progress to the semi-finals.