England in UAE: Jos Buttler will rediscover form against Pakistan, says Matt Prior
'It's a fickle world, but one score turns everything around for him'
Thursday 8 October 2015 15:05, UK
Former England wicketkeeper Matt Prior is backing Jos Buttler to rediscover his form with the bat against Pakistan in the UAE.
Jos Buttler will come good. He's too good not to.
He lost a bit of form this summer, averaging just 15 as the Australians bowled well at him, and just became so desperate to score runs that he veered away from his natural game.
He found himself in situations he hadn't really been in before; walking in at 100-5 is very different to 300-5 and when the going is that much tougher the question is, can you still play with freedom?
Coming off a few poor, low scores, he naturally became a bit more cautious, but that's actually the worst thing he could have done. He needs to make sure he sticks to his game.
His wicketkeeping has improved drastically, a lot quicker than mine did. The true testament of that is that no one is talking about it.
Sure people will point fingers and say 'he isn't scoring any runs', but it wasn't long ago that he was the superstar of English cricket. It's a fickle world, but one score turns everything around for him.
A rest from the final three ODIs against Australia will have done him the world of good. As much as I would have loved to have played more ODI cricket, I found that time off a blessing.
I could work on fitness, a particular technical area, or just get away from the game completely.
'Daddy Hundreds'
England will have their work cut out in the UAE. On those wickets you need big runs.
Live Test Cricket
We always used to speak about 'daddy hundreds' - getting 70, 80-odd, or even a hundred, wasn't good enough.
You need to be greedier in order to get that team total from 350 to nearer 500. That builds scoreboard pressure, which is vital out there on such docile wickets.
We got things completely wrong on our tour in 2012. Two spinners had the series of their lives, Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman, and having just been crowned the best team in the world that summer, we didn't approach the series in the right mind-set.
We went from the hunter to the hunted, and put a huge amount of pressure on ourselves which didn't help.
Our bowlers actually did an unbelievable job. Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar getting us into great positions, but we got spun out again and again with the bat.
DRS was still new in international cricket back then, and it changed everything in terms of how you play spin. The minute we got hit on the pad - with the ball keeping so low out there - we were out.
Intent
The nature of those wickets means the cricket becomes far more attritional; sometimes you have to just look to survive.
As always, if the ball is there to be hit, hit it. But how you go about doing that in the UAE is trickier.
In English conditions - or even Australian conditions - bowlers are looking to bowl in that channel on or just outside of off-stump. Their margin for error is small, and if they then drop too short or too full, you can throw your hands at it.
But in the sub-continent or the UAE, bowlers look to bowl wicket-to-wicket, and it becomes much harder to get the ball away.
England had such a successful summer by adopting a more aggressive approach, and while it is important that intent is still there, if they think they're going to score at four or five an over, they'll find themselves in trouble very quickly.
No regrets
It was fantastic to see the team do so well in the Ashes, especially having been so emphatically written off beforehand.
Of course I would have loved to have been on that journey with the boys, especially after the tough times of the last tour, but it wasn't meant to be, and I have absolutely no regrets.
I have launched my cycling team, ONE Pro Cycling, this year which has really given me something to sink my teeth into since retirement.
You can't fully turn off that competitive nature in you, and I enjoy using my experiences as an international sportsman in a different arena.
I've also loved getting involved in some punditry at Sky Sports and I'm looking forward to working in the studio for this Pakistan series - except for the early mornings! It's an easier game on this side of the fence, I know that much.
It will be a tough series for England, but I'm hopeful they can do something special.
England's tour of the UAE to play Pakistan is live on Sky Sports, starting with the opening Test, in Abu Dhabi, on Tuesday 13th October. You can also watch without a contract on NOW TV.
