‘A fantastic surprise and an incredible opportunity’ is how Jos Buttler described his unexpected call-up to the England side for the Lord’s Test against Pakistan starting Thursday.
With England stuttering to 4-0 and 1-0 defeats in Australia and New Zealand recently, changes were on the cards. Ed Smith was brought in as the new National Selector, and he responded by leaving out James Vince and bringing in Buttler, pulling him out of his stint in the IPL for Rajasthan Royals.
“It’s not that you live with regrets, but you definitely miss it. To get that call, the overriding emotion was excitement,” said Buttler. “I came for a hit here on Saturday. Turning up here on England duty to play a Test match is unbelievable.
“Any time you turn up here at Lord’s it’s special, and all of those emotions are arriving today.”
