The multi-talented player has a lot to offer his country – but recent form with the bat shows he is not cut out for Test cricketA rand for Jos Buttler’s thoughts as Mark Wood and Stuart Broad were clouting South Africa’s bowlers around Johannesburg? The invigorating final-wicket stand of 82 contained the kind of pyrotechnics we have become accustomed to from Buttler in white-ball cricket. Cross formats, though, and England’s Test wicketkeeper looks as sorry as a soggy Catherine wheel.
![Jos Buttler’s batting struggles demand a rethink from England | Chris Stocks](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b6d515bdfedfcbae8077b6b5a1853f16906d641d/812_727_3838_2304/master/3838.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdG8tZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=1151ffc5217fa03e836ec6427e38eedf)
It was not always this way; Buttler was deemed a triumph of a selection after he received an unexpected Test recall in May 2018. That pick, a ballsy initial calculation by the national selector, Ed Smith, in his first summer in the job, was followed by a good series against
India as a specialist No 7 batsman.