Jos Buttler Leads From Front As England Target T20 World Cup Glory

Jos Buttler is back in his all-action role as captain, opening batsman and wicketkeeper as power-packed England prepare to launch their bid for Twenty20 World Cup glory. The white ball star missed his side's recent 4-3 series win in Pakistan with a calf injury and in his absence Alex Hales and Phil Salt impressed at the top of the batting order, with Salt taking the gloves. But Buttler appeared to end speculation over whether he might relinquish his wicket-keeping role or drop down the batting order in the first game of a three-match series against Australia on Sunday.

The 32-year-old opened alongside Hales and smacked 68 off 32 balls as England defeated the World Cup hosts and holders by eight runs in Perth.

Buttler and Test captain Ben Stokes, who was not in the squad in Pakistan, will boost an already strong batting line-up, with all-rounder Liam Livingstone and "death-overs" specialist Chris Jordan also added into the mix.

Buttler, who succeeded Eoin Morgan as England's white-ball captain earlier this year, is hoping to lead the reigning 50-over world champions to just their second T20 triumph, 12 years after their first.

England's Test team have sparkled in recent months under Stokes but Buttler and new white-ball coach Matthew Mott have found success harder to come by, even though they are ranked second in T20 cricket.

England lost T20 and one-day international series against India in July before drawing an ODI series against South Africa and then suffering a defeat at the hands of the Proteas in the subsequent T20 series.

Those results led to questions over whether Buttler, a member of England's winning team in the 50-over World Cup in 2019, was being asked to juggle too many roles.

That debate intensified in