Brendon McCullum’s England Test revamp could include top T20 talent

New England coach Brendon McCullum has reopened the door to Test cricket for Indian Premier League star Jos Buttler and is also eager to see if the likes of Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid want to be part of his red-ball revamp.

Buttler was dropped after a disappointing Ashes series, with Ben Foakes and Jonny Bairstow on duty for next week’s first Test against New Zealand, but has been in electric form with Rajasthan Royals at the IPL.

He has powered the franchise into Sunday’s final on the back of four centuries in 16 games and averages 58.85 at a fearsome strike-rate of 151.47.

While that could be seen as evidence that the 31-year-old is at his best when focusing on his white-ball game, McCullum feels there could be more mileage in what has been a largely unfulfilled Test career.

Buttler has just two centuries in exactly 100 Test innings but McCullum, who saw him at close quarters as head coach of Kolkata Knight Riders, is ready to try again.

He said: “Jos is one of those players you look at instantly and think how could he be so dominant in one form of the game and not quite have found his feet, other than a few fleeting performances, in Test cricket?

There's no reason why, if you're good at T20, you can’t bring those skills into Test cricket- Brendon McCullum

“There’s certainly guys you look at and think there’s a lot of talent that could improve the side given the right opportunity. There’s no reason why, if you’re good at T20, you can’t bring those skills into Test cricket and you look at some of the guys who have dominated the IPL in the last two months. It’s just a matter of trying to identify how they’re going to do that.”

Spin duo Moeen and Rashid are also names on McCullum’s mind, although the