Jos Butler: the flag-bearer of England’s next generation?

Jos Butler, we have been hearing this name for quite some time now in English cricket. We have seen him play some hard-hitting innings for England in one-day cricket coming into bat in the lower-middle order. Born in Taunton, Butler went on to play for Somerset at the age of 18 and then for England, when he made his debut in a T20 against India late in 2011. He put in some terrific performances for the England Under-19 team in the U-19 world cup in 2010 and caught the attention of English selectors who started monitoring him. Prior to that, Butler had built a huge reputation as a school level cricketer, perhaps the most prolific England has ever seen. People had started to notice him from a very young age and even Wisden ranked him as one of the top 6 school boy cricketers ever. In the midst of his batting exploits, very few people recognize the fact that he is a wicket-keeper and a pretty decent one at that job.
Butler’s batting combines fluent strokeplay with a foundation of a solid technique, which gives him that confidence while trying to clear the ground. He is not a slogger but someone who plays good cricketing strokes and scores fast. He is known for an upright stance and believes in hitting the ball clean and straight, many a time over the bowler’s head for six, a style of batting not many English batsmen have been known for over the years. Playing for Somerset early in his career, he had to be an understudy to his more experienced teammate Craig Kieswetter, who was the first choice keeper and who then went on to play for England as well. This perhaps inspired Butler to work on his batting even more and he was duly rewarded with a place in the England one-day side as a batsman. At the beginning he got starts but couldn’t quite capitalize but steadily everyone came to know of his value when he started putting in gutsy performances with the bat lower down the order, often pushing England over the line in ODIs and T20s.
Now around 25 matches old in both the short formats, he averages about 30 which is way lesser than his ability but atleast he has got the hang of international cricket already at the age of 23. He has shown everyone glimpses of his hitting ability and the character that he can show as a cricketer in this short span of time and will only improve from here on. Ofcourse Butler needs to work on his game further as far as playing in turning tracks is concerned, which generally not many English batsmen have been good at traditionally. With England having got a healthy side in the last few years, there is enough within the side for Butler to learn from but with the recent poor run of form, there is a bit of mental disintegration occurring in English Cricket at the moment. So this is the moment for a young player like Butler to take a that step further and rise up to the plate by taking responsibility. With talent and age on his side a lot is expected of him in the future, especially in the departments of batting and wicket-keeping. Let’s hope he lives up to the expectations.