Jos Buttler hails depth in England squad, backs Eoin Morgan as ODI captain after Dutch series sweep

Amstelveen (Netherlands): England stand-in skipper Jos Buttler has hailed the ‘great depth’ in the squad after leading England to an ODI series sweep against the Netherlands but backed regular ODI captain Eoin Morgan to return to take charge despite his lean run with the bat.

England rode on an unbeaten hundred by Jason Roy and an unfinished 86 by Buttler to beat the Netherlands by eight wickets as Morgan, who scored two ducks in the previous two matches, sat out the match with a groin injury.

The win took England to the top of the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League Standings with 125 points. Before the start of the series, England were third on the table with 95 points, but their flawless victory means they have leapfrogged Afghanistan and Bangladesh to the summit.

Chasing 245 for the win, the England openers once again got their side off to a fiery start. Roy set the tone with consecutive boundaries off van Beek in the second over. It got worse for the Dutch bowler as Phil Salt got in on the act and plundered him for four boundaries in a single over.

“Great victory, picked up wickets at crucial times. In good form, keep going when you’re in good form. There’s a lot of cricket coming up in a short space of time, more guys standing up on this trip,” said Buttler after winning the series.

“(David) Payne threatening on debut, Brydon’s exciting, a deep pool of players. And we’re incredibly fortunate to have the Barmy Army, Amsterdam away is a pretty good trip,” he added.

Though Morgan has been in poor form, scoring 103 runs in five ODI innings with a highest of 75 not out while in 43 T20 matches, he scored 643 runs with a top score of 47 not out.

However, Buttler defended Morgan and said the batter will soon return to form as his ability with the bat “doesn’t just go away overnight”.

“There’s certainly no questioning of his position from within the camp,” Buttler was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo in a report on Wednesday. “I can’t put into words what he’s achieved. Everyone always talks about his captaincy but you forget what a brilliant batsman he’s been for England in over 200 ODIs, that doesn’t just go away overnight. Everyone in the team is backing him.”

Ben Stokes, England’s Test captain, had earlier defended Morgan’s position while speaking at Headingley ahead of his side’s third Test against New Zealand. “Well, he’s only had two low scores, so I wouldn’t say he’s going through a hard time at the moment,” Stokes was quoted as saying in the report.

–IANS