Posted by Jos Buttler hasn’t always impressed us as England’s white ball captain. But man… this was below the belt.
We don’t habitually read “employee backs his boss” type articles because they don’t tend to be awash with intriguing thoughts that enrich our life. But in this case, the BBC headline sucked us in…
Buttler captaining better than I did at times – Root
We’re not sure whether anyone’s yet devised a metric for faintness of praise, but it would be interesting to see this one quantified. It’s pretty faint. Probably somewhere around ‘pencilled-in by a ghost who subsequently changed their mind and then tried to rub it out’.
Because ‘Buttler captaining better than I did’ isn’t a colossal compliment from someone who began his leadership career with the nickname ‘craptain’ and arguably went downhill from there. To then qualify this with ‘at times’ takes this to another level.
“Buttler captaining better than I did at times” isn’t a direct quote, obviously, and Root did admittedly call him “a brilliant leader” at one point.
Nevertheless, the headline appears to derive from this comment: “I certainly think that this team are doing more things right than maybe some of the teams I captained.”
That’s a great ‘maybe’, introducing an element of doubt about clearance of a bar that is essentially lying flat on the ground.
Are Jos Buttler’s England doing more things right than a Test team that rested its two all-time top wicket-takers from the first Test of an Ashes tour so that they could be preserved for deployment as two-fifths of an attack comprising nothing but right-arm fast-medium bowlers come the second?
The answer to that is ‘maybe’.
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Ha-ha. Very amusing analysis.
Coincidentally, although not about cricket, I have recently written up a notorious incident involving me, 40 years ago. As a student representative on Keele University’s senate, I very noticeably fell asleep during an especially dull speech by one of the professors. Another professor described my involuntary contribution as “one of the most incisive statements ever made in that Senate room”. As I reflect upon it, that remark was exceptionally faint praise for the general quality of debate in Keele’s senate back then.
https://ianlouisharris.com/1985/02/14/winning-ways-at-keele-success-with-the-referendum-one-of-the-most-incisive-statements-ever-made-at-senate-a-divine-evening-much-more-from-mid-february-1985/
Connoisseurs of campus humour might enjoy the linked piece, which contains some other juicy snippets, including a contribution from “Ged’s cricket biographer, H Ackgrass” from back in the day and does anyone around here remember Divine?
Can’t wait for Buttler to praise the next captain by favourable comparison to his own latter captaincy performance
You might not have too long a wait, APW.
But it isn’t just the captaincy that is amiss in my view. Several jaded, faded players have lost their spark in this format. Time for some hungry youngsters who might seek their chance at other formats by showing what they can do in the 50 over game.
Who takes over as skipper now?
‘Hi, is that Moeen? Could you do us a favour?…’
What a game. Cricket was the winner. And Afghanistan.
My favourite bit of the whole experience was Jonathan Agnew remarking on how Root and Buttler were running well, and wondering whether Mark Wood would be up to running a quick two “if he was required” – and the audible shudder of horror from Vic Marks at the suggestion.
Good points about captaincy and the alarming lack of English relish of late (exhausted?), but two impressive centuries deaerve credit….the English one by Mr Faint Praise himself.