Is Jos Butler the Right Man To Lead England In T20 WC 2022?

After a pathetic show from England in the 2015 World Cup, a revolution was needed to keep them in business. Eoin Morgan took responsibility and led the team with a counter-attacking mindset.

With the help of some naturally gifted players like Jos Butler, Morgan and England have been terrific in white ball since then.

Start of the Jos Era

As Morgan said farewell to England and International Cricket, the leadership responsibility fell onto the shoulders of Butler. Every English fan was truly excited as the Jos era finally began. But, things didn’t go as per the expectations for England and their white ball skipper.

Since Jos Butler took over as England captain, England has not won a single white ball series out of the 4 they played. They lost both the ODI and T20 series to India 2-1. The ODI series against South Africa ended as a draw and then the Proteas beat England 2-1 in the T20Is.

Now, as the T20 World Cup in Australia is around the corner, questions have been raised over Butler’s captaincy.

What are the Options?

However, the important question is if not Jos, then who? What are the other captaincy options for England? Unfortunately, there are not many names that can put up a strong case for this position. Ben Stokes had a terrific start to his stint as a test captain.

But, he retired from ODIs a while ago and very likely isn’t ready to take leadership responsibility in T20Is. What about Johnny Baristow though? He is enjoying great form but hasn’t got any significant captaincy experience.

Mo, the Skipper?

So, is there nobody who can take over captaincy responsibilities from Jos? Certainly, there’s a guy and he is none other than Moeen Ali.

Moeen Ali has been one of the top two white ball spinners in England for about 7 years now. Also with the bat in hand, he is all class and has been in good form too of late.

Moreover, he is not new to the captaincy role in T20 cricket. He has led Worcestershire for years in T20 Blast and has led them with great success.

In the last 3 seasons, Worcestershire has won the Blast League in 2020, lost the Final in 2021, and was able to play semis this year. So, there’s not much to argue against Mooen as a T20 skipper.

The Bottom Line

While it may sound harsh for Jos, his tactics don’t look like money at the moment. Also, he hasn’t much to show as a captain in competitive cricket.

So, ECB can surely consider unleashing their new T20I skipper- Mo.