Jos Buttler says England’s one-day contingent will be sad to see head coach Trevor Bayliss go next year but is already planning a grand farewell at the 2019 World Cup.
Bayliss has revealed he will call time on his reign when his contract expires at the end of next summer, setting in train a long goodbye which culminates in pursuit of two of the sport’s biggest prizes on home turf.
While the Test team will be focusing on reclaiming the Ashes, the limited-overs squad, whose own tour of Australia begins with a warm-up match against a cricket Australia XI in Sydney on Thursday, are shooting for a first-ever World Cup success.
The fact that is even a realistic possibility is down to the radical overhaul of England’s white-ball cricket under Bayliss, who inherited a team weighed down by conservatism and turned them into one of the world’s most free-flowing units.
“Hopefully we can send him off on a high,” Buttler told BBC Radio Five Live.
“That’s always been our goal as a side. I didn’t know if he would stay on for longer, that’s his decision and a lot of people will be sad to see him go.
“Trevor’s been fantastic for us, he creates a brilliant atmosphere around the team which allows people to go out and play in that free fashion.
“He doesn’t miss a beat, he sees everything that goes on and his great strength is he’s a great man manager. He really looks after people and gives them confidence. Any coach who can make the player feel 10 feet tall when they go out is fantastic.”
Buttler, who will earn his 100th ODI cap when the series proper gets under way in Melbourne on Sunday, has spent the past few weeks in Australia on Big Bash duty with Sydney Thunder.
While an Ashes campaign he once hoped to be part of went up in smoke, and a 4-0 defeat, he was finding his hitting range in the Twenty20 format.
And he accepts it is up to the likes of him to lift the spirits of a Test squad who cannot help but be deflated by their tame surrender of the urn.
“It was a tough series for England,” said Buttler.
“But I think the guys will dust themselves down. The ones who are still here seem in good spirits and I’m sure they will be looking forward to the white-ball arena and the freedom that brings.
“They’re naturally going to be a bit tired but a few of us are brand new to it and when you link up you bring that new energy and that excitement. I think that will drag a few of the guys up again.”
Alex Hales and Jason Roy are set to go head-to-head against CA for the right to partner Jonny Bairstow in Sunday’s series opener in Melbourne.
Joe Root’s sickness bug, which struck on the final day of the Ashes and has proved hard to shake, saw him skip net practice on Wednesday, though he was feeling well enough to referee the traditional football warm-up.
He is highly unlikely to be risked at the Drummoyne Oval, leaving Hales and Roy to vie for attention at the head of the innings.
Hales has not played for his country since September’s late night fracas in Bristol, for which Ben Stokes is still awaiting clearance or charge from the Crown Prosecution Service. Hales was originally suspended alongside the all-rounder but has returned to the squad after it was made clear no charges would be brought against him.
