“It is always nice to know that would be the outcome if we did win”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler has said that it would be a good feeling if his side were able to eliminate Australia from the Champions Trophy on Saturday.
Australia find themselves in a precarious position going into the clash with their arch-rivals as they face a must-win scenario in order to keep their hopes of advancing to the semi-finals alive.
With both of their games having been abandoned due to rain, Australia cannot afford a loss or another washout as that will see them crash out of the tournament.
Furthermore, with the Ashes coming up in November, Buttler knows that England, who have already booked their spot in the semi-finals, can deliver an early blow to Australia if they emerge victorious at Edgbaston.
“Yes, it would be nice,” Buttler admitted. “We will not think too much about that. We want to win, keep our momentum going no matter who we are playing, but it is always nice to know that would be the outcome if we did win.
“We now know we have qualified for the semi-finals but we want to be going there on the back of a win and we will be desperate to do that on Saturday. We have got some good memories of playing there. It is a ground we like playing at, which is one of the advantages of being at one, isn’t it?”
Meanwhile, Buttler will be going into the match on a high as he smashed an unbeaten 68 off 41 balls in England’s Champions Trophy match against New Zealand, which they won by 87 runs.
Having also scored an unbeaten 65 in the three-match ODI series that preceded the competition, Buttler seems to have regained his form after a rough patch against India and West Indies, which saw him muster just 80 runs in six innings.
“I think maybe in the India and West Indies series I was short of runs,” he said. “Going away to the IPL, I felt in fantastic form and then, since I have been back, I have scored a couple of fifties in three or four games and now I feel in good form.
“The wicket was slow with such a big boundary, I was trying to run twos as much as possible and I did not find the boundary as much as I am used to. We couldn’t quite throw caution to the wind because we kept losing wickets, so I had to take that responsibility to bat until the end to ensure we got up to 300.”