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Another summer is over and, for Jos Buttler, life and cricket feel more precious than ever. The fleeting nature of both has been accentuated by the loss of Buttler’s father, John, after his unexpected death in August. The 35-year-old will soon talk movingly about grief and acceptance but, first, he reflects on his venerable place in white-ball cricket after England’s international summer ended in a low-key series in Ireland.
Buttler opened the batting and Jacob Bethell and Rehan Ahmed, who followed him at three and four in the opening match, are both 21. But he had proved his sustained brilliance a few weeks earlier when, against South Africa, he hit 83 off 30 balls in a blistering knock that helped England to become the first team to pass 300 in a T20 international.
“They were affectionately calling me Grandpa,” Buttler says of his teammates in Ireland. “It was just me and [the 37-year-old] Adil Rashid as the older crew but it’s still great even if sometimes I’m thinking: ‘God, how lucky you guys are to have all this ahead of you.’ But I’ve made a conscious effort to try not to think about my age. I’m going to play cricket like this as long as I can and just enjoy it.”
We’re in a London studio, soon after Buttler and Stuart Broad finished recording this week’s episode of their successful For the Love of Cricket podcast. I’m in the chair where Rob Key, the managing director of the England cricket team, had sat while Broad and Buttler interviewed him.
But Buttler slips seamlessly into the role of interviewee as he talks honestly about his emotions.
“I got out for a duck in my last innings [in Dublin] and I was absolutely gutted,” he says. “But as long as I’m getting annoyed when I don’t do well, I’ve still got that edge.”
Does he still have “fuck it” written on the top of his bat handle? “I do. At the non-striker’s end I look at it as it’s a nice reminder about what matters to me.”
On his podcast Buttler spoke about how this year he had dug out his old notebooks where he used to write down his cricketing thoughts. “In the last six months I’ve stopped doing that. As a [white‑ball] captain I had some good days and a few more bad days and I was especially knocked after the 50-over World Cup in India [when England were hapless in 2023]. I took those old books to India to the IPL [in March] and read through them. I found very similar themes throughout the last 10 years.
If I was playing great I was writing the same thing – just like when I was playing badly.
“It made me think I’ve got to stop trying so hard. I had a great IPL, played as well as I’ve ever played, and I was like: ‘Wow, I can play well without writing my notes, without saying I need to do X, Y, Z.’”
Buttler takes another mouthful of sushi and chews thoughtfully. “It all comes full circle and, in the latter part of my career, I want to enjoy it and not hang on to things as hard as I may have done.”
A brutal test of this philosophy came less than two months ago when his dad died. “It happened during the Hundred and it was quite raw. He hadn’t been well for a while but it was still a shock when he passed away. It’s given me a new appreciation of cricket and I’ve actually found a lot of determination to do my best because that was all he ever wanted me to do. Now, every time I play I find myself looking at the sky quite a lot and imagine him watching down.”
Buttler’s voice is steady but his face is creased in pain. “It’s been a tough time but it’s given me a deeper appreciation for how much he and my mum did for me. I still really want to win and you feel disappointed when you don’t do well. But it’s not the be-all and end‑all as the loss of a parent really gives that perspective.”
Thinking about grief he says: “A few people who have been through the same experience said: ‘Don’t judge yourself for how you feel. There’re times when you feel happy and you’re having a good time. Don’t think you shouldn’t because your dad passed away four weeks ago.’ It’s also OK to feel sad. Don’t just ignore it, you’ve got to try to deal with it. So I’m taking it slow and we’ll see how it goes.”
He must have thought about his dad when England set their world‑record T20 score of 304 for two, five weeks after his death? “Yes,” Buttler says quietly. “My dad would have absolutely loved that match. He’d have been glued to the TV. He was a very nervous watcher, in the latter years, but he’d have recorded it and replayed it the next day.”
Did he sense early on that he and fellow opener Phil Salt had set the foundation for an extraordinary world record? “More so when I got out. I remember seeing the graphic where we were on 166 after 10 overs. I’d been asked in India who’ll be the first team to score 300 in the IPL. I said: ‘I don’t think anyone will do it.’ But then it dawned on me that we could.”
Buttler shakes his head in amazement. “After the game you’re sat in your team clothes and don’t want to take them off. You just want to savour the highlights and everyone talking about what a day it was. When you’ve played for a long time you know it doesn’t happen every day. So take it in.”
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Did England’s head coach, Brendon McCullum, say much after such remarkable batting? “He is pretty low-key but when you’re on the inside you see the magic and the depth of all he does. He’s got a great way of talking to the group. He doesn’t get too high or too low but he was so proud and said: ‘Look what’s possible with the talent you guys have got.”
That simple joy contrasts with the anguish that Buttler sometimes experienced as England’s white‑ball captain – despite leading them to victory in the T20 World Cup in 2022. “I’m getting more and more clarity and acceptance on that time. Some people said I was a certain way and I would have ego and say: ‘No, I’m not upset. I’m not angry.’ Now, without the mask on, I can say: ‘Maybe I was upset.’ I lost a bit of self‑awareness because the 2023 World Cup in India was a huge confidence knock. I probably never recovered from that as a leader and never had the same conviction again.”
Harry Brook replaced him as captain this summer and, for Buttler, “a big burden’s been lifted. Even when I went home I took this dark cloud. That, absolutely, has been lifted.”
Joe Root struggled as England’s Test captain but, since relinquishing the role, his batting has reached supreme levels. “Definitely,” Buttler says of his close friend. “During my first game, not being captain, Joe was in the side which really helped. I kept wicket, he was at slip and I said: ‘God, it’s a bit weird, isn’t it, when you’re not captain any more?’ Joe said it’s normal to feel like this. He said when people talk in the dressing room in a positive way, sometimes it makes you feel like they’re talking negatively about your captaincy. You have to realise that’s not the case. Seeing how much he’s enjoying cricket, and playing so well, gives me lots of comfort you can have a great time post-captaincy.”
After a brief white‑ball tour of New Zealand this month, Buttler will have a six-week break before playing franchise cricket in South Africa. But he will be consumed by watching the Ashes.
“The Ashes are strange for me because, obviously, it’s the best series but my own performances were really poor. I’ve got fond memories of watching other players do well, and being in teams that won in 2015 and drew in 2019 when Australia retained the urn. It’s more intense than anything else in cricket and, in 2015, I completely overbuilt it. I made it such a big thing and asked so many people: ‘Why is it so hard? What do I need to do?’ It was a good lesson because I spoke to way too many people and was paralysed by all that information.”
Buttler played four Tests in Australia in 2021-22, England losing the first three badly and clinging on for a draw in Sydney. “It was a tough time. My last-ever Test was in Sydney, where I broke my finger. I think my head was on the chopping block anyway and we were just outplayed. But this very different England team is now in a really good place.”
Buttler smiles when I ask him for an Ashes prediction. “England to win 3-2 in an absolute classic. I think we’ve got an amazing chance with such a settled team. Everything’s coming into place at the right time.”
Buttler’s and Broad’s podcast should reach fresh heights during a compelling series. They’ve already developed a relaxed rapport while conducting fascinating in-depth interviews with people as different as McCullum and Justin Langer. “I’ve learned how much I love talking about cricket,” Buttler says. “It’s obviously a big part of everything that we do, and it’s shaped everything, but getting the chance to talk in detail with Broady has been so enjoyable. And it’s been great learning new skills without it affecting my cricket.”
The T20 and 50-over World Cups both take place next year. It’s telling that, after all his reflections on life and loss, Buttler is clear when he outlines his remaining ambitions in cricket: “I want to win something again, especially with England in another World Cup. To experience that winning dressing room again would be special.
“I’ll never forget what it was like lifting that trophy in 2022 with your team all around you. That probably got tainted by the next few years. But when we won the [50-over] World Cup in 2019 it was never tainted. It would be good to have that feeling again.”
