World Cup 2019: Jos Buttler is England’s dangerman, says Ricky Ponting

England, hosts of the 2019 ICC World Cup, remain one of the top favourites to win the marquee tournament. The side has some massive hitters and match-winners who can demolish any opponent on their day. However, of them all, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has backed wicket-keeper-batsman Jos Buttler as the hosts’ dangerman during the upcoming tournament. Incidentally, Buttler recently backed ace all-rounder Ben Stokes to be England’s biggest game-changer in this World Cup.

Buttler, one of three ‘J’s that England has in their ranks – the other two being Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow – had a good series against Pakistan recently in which he slammed a ton. The right-hand dashing batsman has scored over 3,500 runs in ODIs at an average of 41 plus and strike rate of 119 plus.

“The dangerman for England is gonna be Jos Buttler. I just watched him develop over the last 2 or 3 years. I had a chance to coach him at Mumbai Indians 3 or 4 seasons ago when he was really sort of starting to make his mark in international cricket,” Ponting, who led Australia to two World Cup wins and is an assistant to coach Justin Langer for the Kangaroos in the current World Cup, was quoted as saying in a video posted on Cricket Australia website.

Buttler’s batting is out of the world, says Ponting

Ponting said Buttler’s batting in the middle-order is “out of this world” and said the latter did outstandingly well across the three formats in the last 12-18 months. “He scores 360 degrees around the ground, hits the ball incredibly hard, hits the ball a long way as well,” he added.

Speaking about England as a team in this World Cup, the 44-year-old said the hosts’ strength lies in the fact that they bat too deep which enables their top order to bat more freely. playing in home conditions will favour them as well, feels Ponting.

“Someone like Buttler or (Ben) Stokes or Moeen Ali coming in at 7, 8, 9, allows their top-order to go hard. They are a really confident outfit. They have got great depth in their squad and obviously would be playing in conditions they are very much used to,” he added.

England will take on South Africa in the opener of the World Cup at the Kennington Oval on May 30.

[interaction id=”5ce3f42b65ff3418fa7ca007″]