Jos Buttler reflects on difficulties of playing all three formats for England

England star Jos Buttler has opened up about the difficulties of playing for England in Test, ODI and T20I cricket, having been a regular in all formats since his recall to the Test side in 2018.

During the height of the pandemic, between March 2020 and March 2021, England played the most days of international cricket with 69.

No other player featured more regularly than Buttler, who played 53 days of international cricket – and that is without factoring in time spent training and in quarantine.

He also played a total of 66 days of competitive cricket, featuring in 32 matches.

The pandemic has only increased the amount of time players are devoting to the sport as, once cricket began again after a 114-day absence, the schedule has had to fit in postponed series and quarantine periods.

Such workloads, coupled with isolation, have now taken their toll on several of the sport's biggest stars.

Ben Stokes is currently taking a break to prioritise his mental health, Virat Kohli has announced that he will be stepping down as India's T20 captain because of his "immense workload" and Chris Gayle has pulled out of the IPL in a bid to "mentally recharge and refresh" ahead of the T20 World Cup.

And the schedule is set to get even busier next year, with England playing an ODI series against the Netherlands at the same time as their Test series against New Zealand and also needing to find space for a rescheduled Test against India.

Speaking at an event at Sixes Cricket Club, where he was unveiled as the official ambassador of Booking.com 's sponsorship of the ICC T20 World Cup, Buttler admitted that being a multi-format player is "a great challenge" and that the pandemic has "certainly made it harder".

He said: "There’s so much cricket and you put in an IPL tournament which you want to be in and other franchise tournaments, it’s always going to be a challenge.

"The challenge as an individual is can you be at the right level all the time with what that demands of you, physically, mentally and performance wise.

"It’s a great challenge and there’s not many people around the world who really do it to a great level and that shows why it’s tough.

"You look at all the top players and that’s what they’re capable of doing, [performing] in every situation in every format.

"I think the schedule makes it a bit tougher and Covid has clouded that even more with quarantine periods making a tour longer.

"The circumstances with which you’re involved in those tournaments and tours are different, so it’s certainly made it harder.

"I think everyone’s dream is always to play all the formats and be in every team you can be in."

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