Jos Buttler challenges England to take their white-ball game to new levels

Jos Buttler believes England are equipped to cope with “big expectations” and insisted their bold brand of white-ball cricket will continue long after his reign as captain has ended.

Named successor to Eoin Morgan last week, Buttler is set for his first assignment with three Twenty20s in the space of four days against India, starting on Thursday evening at the Ageas Bowl.

A quest to unify the limited-overs World Cups in Australia in the autumn should sharpen England’s focus but Buttler has plenty of confidence in the current 50-over champions despite Morgan’s absence.

Morgan was the architect of England’s transformation from no-hopers to trailblazers and Buttler, so integral to their uptick in fortunes, sees no point in diverting from that wildly successful formula.

“There’s a really clear way we want to play our cricket and I think that will outlast me and everyone,” said Buttler.

“It will be much of the same and, if anything, can we take that to new levels? That’s what we’ll always be challenging ourselves on. A big part of the team is not to set boundaries and not to have limitations.

“There’s big expectations on the group now that that’s where we believe we’re good enough to be. Absolutely we deserve that through all the hard work we’ve put in.

“Winning tournaments isn’t just as simple as that (but) it’s going into them with the expectation of being able to compete and get to semi-finals and finals, that’s where we’re at as a team.”

A big part of the team is not to set boundaries and not to have limitations.- Jos Buttler

While Buttler will resume his opening partnership with Jason Roy, Morgan’s international retirement creates a vacancy in the middle order, although his spot is expected to be taken by big-hitting