England vice-captain Jos Buttler hails collective team effort

Dubai - Captain Eoin Morgan revealed last week that there was a spot in England's T20 World Cup squad for a bowler with genuine pace and Plunkett has boosted his chances of securing that role with six Pakistan wickets in eight overs.

 England vice-captain Jos Buttler believes the ability of the Twenty20 team to triumph in tight tussles without a standout showing from any one individual augurs well for the World Cup next year.
The tourists squeezed home to a three-run victory over Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday evening, when nobody in blue breached 40 with the bat or claimed a four-fer with the ball.
However, everybody chipped away in a collective team effort to seal a series success in subcontinental conditions and that is an encouraging sign with what is ahead on the horizon.
"We didn't play our best with the bat tonight (Friday) and we weren't very fluent throughout our innings," Buttler said.
"We got up to 170 (172-8), which is no mean feat, without anyone going on and making that match-defining innings.
"Most of the bowlers would say one of their overs wasn't quite as they'd like it. But, I cannot speak highly enough of everybody. Everyone really stuck their hands up.
"Liam Plunkett had a tough first over and he came back to put in a man-of-the-match performance to take wickets.
"Stephen Parry bowled that over in the powerplay to get us that wicket (of opener Ahmed Shehzad), which we desperately needed as well, so it was a performance full of character.
"To not play our best and still win games of cricket really bodes well. If you can win these tight games where you maybe don't deserve to, that is going to help you get deep into a tournament."
Meanwhile, fast bowler Plunkett intends to sit down with England coach Trevor Bayliss to discuss how he can force his way back into the Test match squad following his omission from the forthcoming tour of South Africa.
"I'm gutted I'm not going," the Yorkshire seamer, 30, admitted. "I'll try and catch the coach later on and speak to him to see what I can do to get back amongst the Test squad.
"I was obviously disappointed, but you cannot dwell on it. I've just got to move forward and go from here really."
Captain Eoin Morgan revealed last week that there was a spot in England's T20 World Cup squad for a bowler with genuine pace and Plunkett has boosted his chances of securing that role with six Pakistan wickets in eight overs.
"I want to put my name in the hat," he added. "I bowl as fast as anyone and my skills are getting better. If I am (eventually) to lose pace, I may as well work on my skills and try to get even better at that."
alex@khaleejtimes.com