‘It’s a reality check’ – Jos Buttler vows to have ‘honest chat’ with his England team after T20 series defeat to South Africa

Jos Buttler has vowed to have an ‘honest chat’ with his England team after they slipped to a T20 series defeat to South Africa and failed to win a home white-ball series this summer.

England were bowled out for just 101 in Sunday’s T20I decider against South Africa in Southampton, with the tourists sealing an emphatic 90-run win to take the series 2-1.

Buttler’s side lost by the same margin in their T20 and ODI series against India earlier in the summer, while they could only draw the 50-over series against South Africa.

Buttler replaced 2019 World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan at the helm in late June and admits England’s recent results should act as a ‘reality check’ ahead of the T20 World Cup which takes place in Australia later in the year.

‘I think it is a reality check,’ Buttler said. ‘We haven’t played our best cricket by a long stretch and I don’t think we have been able to impose ourselves.

‘We can’t live in the past and pat ourselves on the backs for the changes that have been made in English cricket and the successes we have had.

‘It’s about looking forward, trying to chase the best teams in the world and being at the forefront of that.

‘We do need an honest chat. You don’t want to overreact to situations but you could sense the frustration around the ground with the “get on with it, England” chants.

‘You don’t want to be associated with that. It is the first time I have heard that for a very long time, so that frustration around the group shows we weren’t managing to put on the show we want to put on.

‘You can cope with losing but you want to make sure you stay true to what you believe in and I think we fell well short with the way we played.

‘The disappointing thing was the way we went down. We lacked intent and