Moeen, who played 138 ODIs and 92 T20Is in a ten-year England career, was an integral member of two World Cup-winning squads, in 2019 and 2022, the latter as Buttler’s vice-captain and on-field sounding board.
Having also featured at the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Moeen went on to play a key role in the white-ball revolution under Eoin Morgan and Trevor Bayliss. Now, he backs McCullum and Buttler to forge a similarly successful partnership, as the squad seeks another rebuild after their poor defences of both the 50- and 20-over titles in 2023 and 2024.
McCullum takes over the white-ball role from Matthew Mott, who was sacked in July after England’s semi-final exit at the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean. Speaking to Sky Sports during the ongoing Oval Test match, Moeen suggested that McCullum’s aura, as a former New Zealand captain and one of the great white-ball batters of all time, would give him a standing in the dressing-room that his predecessor never had.
“Brendon just brings this energy,” Moeen said. “It helps being somebody who’s been there and done it, in the way he played.
“Sometimes, when the coach says ‘go and do this’, and they never did it themselves, it’s quite difficult to take on. But Brendon brings that energy, and I think it’d be great for Jos more than anything, because he’s got so much on his plate with batting, bowling, keeping, captaining and all that.
“Brendon will take the pressure off Jos, and he can just play as captain on the field. Brendon will be more in control, I think.”
Speaking in the wake of his appointment, McCullum noted that Buttler had cut a bit of a “miserable” figure in recent months, with some noticeably terse exchanges with the media during the World Cup, and with a long-standing calf injury preventing him for playing any competitive cricket since that semi-final exit against India.
Moeen had been an increasingly influential figure in the field throughout Buttler’s captaincy, often ringing the changes in the field and communicating with the bowlers from mid-on and mid-off while Buttler focussed on his role as wicketkeeper. He led England on 13 occasions (12 T20Is and a one-off ODI in Australia), including England’s entire seven-match series in Pakistan in October 2022 that doubled as a warm-up for their T20 World Cup victory.
But, with a new generation of white-ball cricketers coming through, Moeen insisted that Buttler would not lack lieutenants as he embarks on England’s rebuild. Phil Salt will captain next week’s T20I series against Australia, while Harry Brook is on standby to lead the ODI squad if Buttler does not recover from his calf injury in time.
“When Morgs initially took over, he didn’t really have a right-hand man, but a good, tough captain produces leaders, and I think over time you’ll get that,” Moeen said. “At the moment, obviously you’ve got Sam Curran and these guys who can lead, but sometimes as a vice-captain you can almost talk too much, and give too much advice.
“I felt that sometimes, maybe, I did that, but I think Jos will make everyone feel like they can come and speak to him. He’s very approachable, but I think he will do his own thing. There’s a lot of leaders out there who potentially can be great leaders in the future.”
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
