T20 World Cup: Full text – Buttler on Stokes’s greatness, England’s white-ball dominance and more

England won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 on Sunday by defeating Pakistan in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Sam Curran did the star turn with the ball while Ben Stokes held the batting innings together as England went on to claim their second men’s T20 World Cup trophy.

Captain Jos Buttler, speaking in a press conference after the match, reflected on England’s dominance in the white-ball game, Stokes proving to be clutch again, Curran’s incredible growth as a cricketer, and more.

Here’s the transcript of what Jos Buttler had to say in his press conference after the final:

Jos, World Cup winning captain just four and a half months into the job; how does that sound?

Yeah, amazing. It’s been a fantastic tournament. For us to now be sat here with the trophy, just immensely proud of everyone involved in the tournament and leading up to this stage. I think we fully deserved it tonight.

Ben Stokes is always there when you need him most, isn’t he; how great did it feel to have a player like that you can depend on with the most intense pressure scenarios?

Yeah, absolutely. He always stands up in the biggest moments. He’s a man who can take a lot of pressure on his shoulders and perform, and yeah, absolutely with him in the middle you know you’ve got a good chance. Yeah, just so proud of him, pleased for him that he’s stood up and done it again.

2019 was obviously historic, where does this rank for you? Is it better than that or not?

Yeah, I think it’ll take a few days to sink in, but yeah, just a different – I feel different. It just feels – just immensely proud of everyone, as I said.

I think since the Ireland game the way we’ve sort of showed great character, must-win games every point from then on, I think we’ve played our best cricket, and we’ve just got better and better.

Double world champions now, ODI and T20, it feels like you make a bit of a case to be regarded as one of the best white ball teams of all time; do you get that feeling?

Yeah, it’s not for us to judge, but we certainly enjoy that. I think a lot has been made of the changes in white ball cricket in England and the journey the teams have been on. To have won in 2019 and now win this T20 World Cup, as well, it just shows the vision at the start that people had where we could get to as an England white ball team, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t go on from strength to strength.

After 2019 final, when Eoin Morgan sat there like you are now with the trophy in front of him, he described Ben as “superhuman,” his efforts in that final. I wondered how you would describe his efforts tonight, and are you surprised that he just keeps producing again and again on the tightest and biggest the stages?

Yeah, no surprise. He’s a true match winner, and he’s been there in those scenarios time and time again. He just has a lot of know-how for how to do that.

I think it certainly wasn’t his most fluent innings or probably didn’t time the ball as well as he can, but you knew he was never going to go down without a fight and stand up and be there at the end.

Yeah, we were immensely lucky to have him, and he’s one of the great players of English cricket.

How pleased are you for him on a personal level given what happened in 2016?

Yeah, it’s an amazing story really, isn’t it. I think shame he did his documentary a year early. He could have added that in. Yeah, he’s been on an amazing journey. I think all these big moments, like I’ll always remember his words to Jofra about how things don’t define you, and I think he’s obviously never let that 2016 final sort of push him back, and you think of the things he’s gone on to achieve in his career since then is just amazing.

Is there a case now for arguing actually Ben is England’s greatest cricketer of all time?

Yeah, he can be in the conversation for sure.

Before the game, I asked you about a little period of English sport where there was a few World Cups up for grabs. Sadly, the women didn’t quite get over the line, in New Zealand, the rugby league boys didn’t quite manage their semi-finals. You have actually started things off. Do you think maybe that can provide a bit of inspiration to the footballers as they’re about to get under way with their tournament next week?

Yeah, I hope so. Obviously a start of a great tournament for them. I saw how we sent a message wishing good luck to the team, as well. So we’re grateful for that. Yeah, we’re all immensely proud. We’re a fantastic sporting nation, I think, and sport is such a big part of English culture, and we know how well supported we are. The fans who traveled here to watch us, millions watching back home, and that support is fantastic.

Obviously you’ve won a double World Cup now; can you describe the difference between the two, obviously as captain in particular.

Yeah, I think this seems to take more time to sink in, I think. There’s a lot of 2019 being at home in Lords and the drama that unfolded, especially in that game, is just an amazing feeling to win. It feels different. That’s all I can say. But it’s no less good. But yeah, just delighted.

Just looking back to the English summer when you were playing those series against India and South Africa, you talked a lot about how it would take time to gel with a new captain, a new coach. Is there something that did gel in the lead-up to this tournament and this tournament? Can you put your finger on the kind of things that maybe it was?

I think relationships take time. As you get to know people better and better, you build trust. I’d say the Pakistan tour for the group, not just myself and the coach, but for everyone involved, it just seemed like a really good tour. A lot of bonds built. I thought we got back to playing some really good cricket there. We turned up in Australia full of confidence. I thought the series we played before the World Cup against Australia, we played really good cricket.

I just think it’s time. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to get to know people well and get to feel comfortable, and there’s so much talent in the group that as soon as we feel comfortable, we’re a dangerous team.

People talk a lot about the batting depth in the England side, but when you look at some of the injuries that you’ve had in the bowling department, the efforts of the likes of Adil Rashid and Sam Curran there, just your thoughts on the depth of bowling?

Yeah, I think the depth of bowling has been amazing. I think our bowling has improved no end, and I think that’s why we’re sat here as champions to be honest. I think our bowling has improved fantastically well. Sam Curran has stepped up and been an absolute revelation. He’s a brilliant cricketer. He loves those crunch moments. He’s deserved Player of the Tournament for this, and we’re so proud to have him in our team.

I think you can’t underestimate the hard work that people have put in, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes coming back from injuries to get to this point, Chris Jordan being injured, as well, to get to this point, guys getting injured during the World Cup. Just such an amazing effort from everyone.

Can you throw more light on Sam Curran’s bowling, and can we draw a parallel with Wasim Akram’s spell in the ‘92 World Cup, left-armers, three wickets. He also took three wickets in the final between the two teams.

Yeah, I think Sam would definitely take being compared to Wasim Akram. That’s a pretty good rap. Yeah, he’s a top performer. He’s only going to get better and better, as well. He’s still a young man. But he’s got a lot of experience already in those shoulders, and he’s just – he wants the ball. He’s a man you turn to tell him he’s on, and he’s already saying, yeah, I want to bowl.

Just so pleased for him, his performances, and he’s got everything he deserves.

You’ve spoke about the improvement in the bowling. Can you tell us a little more about the process and what work has gone behind the scenes to see this improvement?

I think the guys just work hard. There’s a huge amount of talent there. I think David Saker has come in as a bowling coach for this tournament and in Pakistan, and I think he’s added a huge amount to the group. They just talked about how to get people out and how to defend. There’s not been any technical stuff. I would say it’s very tactical. Everyone seems very clear.

Guys taking a lot of ownership makes my job a lot easier to pass it over to them and say I trust you to bowl whatever you think you need to bowl, and they’ve just taken their ownership and been brilliant.

For a long time English cricket was seen as too reserved, too structured, very conservative, and on the other way, subcontinental teams were seen as full of daredevilry and innovation. Now with two back-to-back victories over subcontinental sides, do you think the perception will change?

Yeah, I think the perception of our team has changed a lot over the last few years. We’ve certainly not played it safe, and we’ve had results doing that. We know we’ve always tried to push the boundaries, tried to get ahead of the rest of the world and be braver than anyone else, and we’ll take what comes from that. We know we’ll slip up along the way, but we certainly trust that method and it’s served us well, and we trust it in big games, as well.

That period during the powerplay when Pakistan’s quicks were really firing, how difficult was that for you personally, and then what did it say about Ben to be able to overcome that, overcome them?

Yeah, they’re a fantastic bowling team. Certainly wasn’t a straightforward wicket when you hit the right areas. Yeah, he managed to get the ball to move off straight and threaten both edges. Yeah, it was tough sort of trying to come through that period. I thought that was going to be massive if I could get out of the powerplay and sort of then control the run chase.

But yeah, they bowled well, but we managed to soak up enough pressure and managed to counterpunch when we needed to.

I just wanted to follow that up a little bit on the pitches that this tournament has been played on, I suppose the variety of them, the fact the bowlers have been in it, there has been a bit of that movement around. What has that done for the tournament in your view as opposed to some other types of T20 cricket we see around the world at times?

Yeah, it’s certainly made people adapt, made the batters have to think differently. Bowlers have been able to attack; at certain times the ball has swung throughout the tournament, which has added a different dimension.

That will be one of the sort of themes throughout the tournament, and like you say, you play in different parts of the world and different challenges are faced. That’s why as an international team we have to be able to adapt really well to be successful.

But yeah, we’ve certainly managed to do that. It’s been an interesting tournament, and it’s certainly thrown up some upsets along the way and some different styles of cricket. But yeah, we’re just delighted to get over the line.

Transcript courtesy: ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2020 via Online Media Zone. Slightly edited for length.