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Phil Salt will keep wicket for England throughout their Twenty20 series in the Caribbean with Jos Buttler playing as a specialist batsman.
Buttler, England’s white-ball captain, will make his return from injury in Saturday’s opening T20 clash in Barbados, missing Wednesday’s final ODI. But Buttler will not take the gloves at all in the series – a major change in England’s approach, with his career as the team’s first-choice keeper dating back to 2012.
Buttler’s new role follows Brendon McCullum taking over as head coach of the white-ball team in January, advising the captain to play as a specialist batsman. McCullum made the same transition from keeper-batsman to specialist batsman during his own playing career.
Buttler has kept wicket in 106 of the last 108 T20Is he has played for England, with the sole exception when Salt took the role for two matches during the T20 tour of the Caribbean last winter. But Buttler still returned to keep wicket during the T20 World Cup.
“I will stay in T20s,” said Salt, who also plays the role in the ODI series. “It’s not something I’ve done a lot of for England recently, but I like to keep it. I feel like that’s where I offer the most side.
“We haven’t had this discussion about anything going forward. I’m just happy to do it right now.
Marcus Trescothick, England’s interim white-ball coach in McCullum’s absence, told Salt at the weekend that he would continue to feature in all five T20 matches.
Although Salt has only kept two previous T20s for England and often plays as a specialist batsman in the franchise leagues, he said he “definitely” prefers to keep wicket.
“I want to be involved in everything. Even when I’m on the field, I want the ball to come towards me on every ball. I don’t know why, I’ve always been like that.
While Salt said he preferred keeping wicket when he was captain, he also suggested Buttler could benefit from being able to communicate more easily with bowlers between deliveries.
“Maybe it will allow him to get a little more enjoyment from the halfway point by having the opportunity to chat with the bowlers. The only thing that guarding takes away is the benefit of being there with the bowlers at the peak of their performance all the time. Sometimes you can find yourself stuck in a position where the only times you run towards a bowler are when things don’t go as planned and you run to reaffirm positive things.
After landing in Barbados on Sunday, Buttler trained for the first time at Kensington Oval on Monday. He has not played a single cricket match since June 26, when England were knocked out of the T20 World Cup in Guyana, suffering from a long-standing calf injury.
Had Buttler been fit to play in the T20 series against Australia in September, Salt would have kept the wicket.
“I was going to ditch the gloves and commit to being halfway through and see how it felt,” Buttler said at the time. “If it can help me in my role as captain, that’s something I’m open to.”
No decision has been made yet on whether Buttler will forgo the gloves for good. He had previously said that as a wicketkeeper: “I feel like I have the best eyesight. I can see exactly what’s going on and I can make calls.”
