Buttler: ‘England learning in Bangladesh despite loss in third ODI’
England captain Jos Buttler said he was disappointed to conclude his side’s three match One-Day International tour to Bangladesh with a loss but insists his side have got what they wanted from the 2-1 series victory.
England were bowled out for 196 as they looked to chase 246 in Chittagong in the final ODI of the series.
“We wanted desperately to win the game today, but we are delighted to win the series,” Butter said.
“We were quite happy with the score we were chasing and got off to a fantastic start, but Bangladesh fought back well.
“We got out of this tour what we wanted. We wanted to play on wickets like this. The two that we played on in Dakar were perfect preparation for us.
“It’s great to challenge ourselves in these conditions, and it’s been valuable to us. We can build on this leading into the World Cup.”
England fell to a 50-run defeat yesterday after winning the opening match by three wickets and the second by 132 runs.
The series has been an important one for Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott as England prepare for this year’s Cricket World Cup in India.
England are defending 50-over world champions – following their Super Over win over New Zealand in 2019 – and come into this series as T20 world champions having won the World Cup in Australia last year.
The side now take on their hosts in three T20 matches across the next eight days as they aim to build depth in their limited-overs side ahead of the showpiece event on the subcontinent later this year.
“It’s sure to be another really exciting series,” Buttler added. “Again, in conditions that we will find challenging but we look forward to the T20 format, it is a format we really enjoy and we look forward to the games.”
Ben Duckett comes in from the Test team for the T20 series while Chris Jordan has also entered the fray. The opening T20 match takes place on Thursday in Chittagong.
The third ODI saw Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan knock 70 and 75 respectively as Bangladesh set a solid total of 246.
In reply, Phil Salt hit 35 off 25 balls and James Vince scored 38, while Chris Woakes knocked 34, but others in England’s line-up failed to produce runs in the chase and Buttler’s side fell 50 runs short.