Brendon McCullum cites Joe Root’s example to define Jos Buttler’s legacy as England captain

Jos Buttler is set to resign from his position as England’s white-ball captain after the Champions Trophy 2025. After failing to qualify for the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup 2023 and final of the T20 World Cup 2024, Buttler was given the ultimatum to succeed in the Champions Trophy. However, with back-to-back defeats to Australia and Afghanistan, England are out of the semi-final race.

The keeper-batter announced his decision ahead of England’s match against South Africa on March 1 at the National Stadium in Karachi. Reflecting on the announcement, England coach Brendon McCullum focused on Buttler’s legacy as captain and noted the impact he had in the white-ball squad. He talked about the time when the Test team was going through turmoil under Joe Root’s captaincy but later Ben Stokes took over and helped the team establish their authority in the longest format.

“I said to the boys tonight in the team room sometimes it’s not necessarily the time that you’re in the post and the results that you get during that time. The impact you have in leadership positions can be felt after you left the post, and I’m sure that’ll be the case. I think Joe Root was a classic example of that with the Test captaincy. He was able to at least hold the fort to a degree under incredibly trying circumstances, and then the uplift of performance when Stokesy [Ben Stokes] took over sort of followed from that, and hopefully it’ll be the same across the white-ball teams whenever we decide on who that person is going to be,” McCullum said in the press conference.

The former international also stated that the next captain has not yet been decided. He believes that the team has plenty of leaders in the dressing room and credited Buttler for the same. The 34-year-old mentioned that multiple young cricketers in the team have good cricketing knowledge and they can be developed as leaders.

“There’s some really good leaders that have developed,” McCullum said. “That’s the mark of Jos’s captaincy, he brought on other leaders within the group. They’re not necessarily seasoned players, but they are young guys who have got good cricketing knowledge and he’s encouraged them to learn and develop as leaders. Whoever we settle on, we’ve just got to make sure we’re giving them the right support so that we can improve our performances.”