Jos Buttler wants T20 series win over South Africa to settle England team

Jos Buttler admits England need to see off South Africa in Sunday’s T20 decider to help settle a team in transition.

Buttler assumed the captaincy of England’s feared white-ball sides this month following Eoin Morgan’s unexpected retirement and has endured a testing time.

With games coming thick and fast he barely had a chance to get his feet under the table by the time India had walked away with the 50-over and 20-over honours, and settled for a drawn ODI leg against the Proteas when rain cut the tourists off in a strong position at Headingley.

The teams have now traded heavy victories in the sprint format, England by 41 runs in Bristol and South Africa by 58 runs in Cardiff just 24 hours later, to set up one last ‘final’.

And Buttler knows how much it would mean to rediscover that winning feeling at the last moment.

“You want to win every series that you play and we haven’t won a series yet this summer. That’s something we’re not accustomed to as a group,” he said after England were bowled out for 149 chasing 208.

“But this is a start of a new cycle of a team. There’s been a few changes – a new captain and a coach (Matthew Mott), and I feel like that’s showing a little bit. We’re still working ourselves out and gelling as a group and we need to do that quickly. Winning this series would be great for that.”

We're not afraid to lose, we don’t want to play safe- Jos Buttler

Buttler did not chastise his side for the margin of defeat in Wales, acknowledging that they needed to throw caution to the wind to stand a realistic chance.

“We’re not afraid to lose, we don’t want to play safe,” he said, a motto that might easily have come from Morgan’s lips.

He also had some familiar advice for the out-of-form Jason Roy.

The Surrey