Brendon McCullum: Jos Buttler is England's greatest white-ball player and has nothing to prove

England’s new limited-overs head coach Brendon McCullum insists he has faith in Jos Buttler to lead the side during a transition and says the captain will go down as “arguably England’s greatest ever white-ball cricketer”.

Buttler will miss will miss the three-match T20 series Australia due to a calf problem, with Phil Salt to lead the side in his absence, and he is also a doubt for the five one-day internationals against Australia that follow the T20s.

Despite injury woes for the skipper, McCullum is excited to start working with Buttler and “marry up” their beliefs.

And the New Zealander says Buttler, part of the side that won the 50-over World Cup in 2019 and skipper for the T20 World Cup success three years later, has “nothing left to prove”.

“I think Jos has had an unbelievable career. If he were to retire tomorrow, he goes down as arguably the greatest white-ball player England has ever had,” McCullum told Sky Sports.

“He has nothing left to prove.

“I want him to get into a space in the next few years where he isn’t trying to protect anything. He just goes out there and absolutely loves playing for England, loves leading the white-ball side and is able to get the most out of the talent around him.

“That is my responsibility to keep pushing him towards that and keep reaffirming that message to him.

“Hopefully he will be back from his injuries soon. The priority will be the Champions Trophy, so we are going to make sure he is ready for that.

“It gives us some time to spark those conversations and formulate those structures and plans to marry up our beliefs and the language we are going to use with the team to get the most out of what sits in that dressing room.”

England’s white-ball side have had a lot of success over recent years but have been suffering a lull, their recent defence of the ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup low points for Buttler’s outfit.

McCullum, with that in mind, is ready to “refresh” the team with the talent on offer while also ensuring the vital leaders are in place as they move towards playing “positive” cricket.

“I think there is a thirst for change. The one day and T20 teams have been incredibly successful,” McCullum said.

“They have won a couple of World Cups and have had some once-in-a-generation cricketers come through in that period who are now coming to the end of their run.

“It is in need of refreshing and bringing in some of that new talent which has probably been inspired by the very people that they are going to end up replacing.

“There are some opportunities to bring some of that new talent in, wrap it around some of the existing talent there, some of the leaders that are there and try and bring what we have been able to achieve in Test cricket and the style of play and the positivity with which we try and operate.”

McCullum has been in charge of the red-ball side since 2022 and sees this as the perfect moment to build “something special” across the entirety of men’s English cricket.

“I was very content in what I was doing, helping Stokesy run the Test side,” he added.

“We have had a great couple of years and some pretty cool stuff even though we are not the finished article yet.

“When Keysy (Rob Key) rang me and asked if there was any world in which I can do it all, it didn’t take a lot of persuading.

“My skills are normally towards trying to rejuvenate a side and bringing some soul and some structure of how you want to play the game.

“Fast forward to now – I think I have had a couple of years where I have been ingrained in English cricket, I understand the systems, the structures, the people and most importantly I understand the talent that sits within this country.

“That excites me.

“I am very humbled by the opportunity. I see the talent that sits around me and I understand the set-up now a lot better and I see the opportunity we have to do something very special.”