England's one-day vice-captain Jos Buttler has shunned suggestions that he could be the next player to focus solely on white-ball cricket, insisting that a return to the Test side remains his target.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Buttler has played 18 Tests for England but has not featured since their tour of India during the winter of 2016, having lost his place behind the stumps to Jonny Bairstow.
Buttler, however, is a bastion of England’s limited-overs teams and a regular participant in the Indian Premier League, suggesting recently he could envisage a time when Twenty20 is the sport’s only format.
But despite seeing international team-mates Alex Hales and Adil Rashid opt out of the first-class game in favour of the shorter formats, Buttler has no immediate intentions to follow suit.
“At the minute, I’m very happy with my situation,” said Buttler. “It’s obviously the right decision for them, and an exciting decision for them. But, for me, at the moment, I’m quite happy.
“I haven’t played a great deal of red-ball cricket recently. Whether that opportunity comes depends on performance. At the back end of this year I’ll be available for quite a lot of Championship cricket. If I’m going to get back in that’s when I need to score runs.”
England play the second of five one-day internationals against New Zealand at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Wednesday, having lost the opening clash of the series by three wickets in Hamilton on Sunday.
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