SAM MORSHEAD: Buttler aims to draw from the Morgan playbook as captain, admitting he wants his team to play "exactly the same way", but he's keen to "push the bar higher" and see what else England can achieve in white-ball cricket
How do you follow that?
As Jos Buttler begins life as England captain, it would be understandable for the new skipper to dwell on the question, even if only for a short while.
Buttler has taken over, of course, from Eoin Morgan: England's most influential leader, a World Cup-winning captain who transformed the game in this country, and exported his methods across the world.
He could barely be better equipped to make a success of the role, given his years of experience as a senior member of an established and highly talented, winning team. Yet at the same time, his position is unenviable.
England expects its men's white-ball side to win every game they play. The fans expect their team to play expansive, explosive cricket. They expect records to be broken over and over and over again, as if they were watching a swimming gala in 1980s East Germany.
There are many more snakes than ladders from here, and that will be Buttler's biggest challenge: taking these England players to new peaks, at a time when they have already pitched their flag atop Everest.
Buttler deputised for Morgan during the third ODI in Amstelveen [Richard Heathcote/Getty Images]
If Morgan taught his team anything, though, it was never to be overawed. And in the shape of fearless Buttler, that is not about to change.
"They're big shoes to fill, aren't they?" the new skipper told the media at Edgbaston on Friday.
"It's been fantastic for the last seven years. It's obvious from the way everybody talks about him, what a great captain he's been. He's been fantastic and I hope to pick up where he left off, learn a lot from him but be myself at the same time.
"The team is in a great place… and I see the game in a very, very similar way to Eoin. I want us to play in exactly the same way."
The scenario is in strict contrast to the Test team. Sure, the shift from Silverwoodian conservatism to bullish Bazball has been seismic, but so low was the red-ball setup prior to this summer, Joe Root's successor was always going to get more leeway. The burden of expectation was always going to be considerably lighter.
For Buttler, then, comes a balancing act. He must make sure there is continuity between the era of Morgan and his own, while not becoming the eternal caretaker. He must keep the culture which brought Morgan so much success, while not being afraid to try new things.
The way he talked on Friday suggests he understands that.
"One big thing that we always talked about as a group is not setting boundaries, not having limitations, always keen to improve, always keen to push the bar higher," he said.
Outgoing captain Eoin Morgan [Dan Mullan/Getty Images]
"Where are those areas that we can improve? What can we keep doing? But that style of play I hope will remain exactly the same."
Most of all, though, Buttler should probably accept that he doesn't stand a chance of being remembered in the same way as his predecessor. Not as a captain, at least. He is already destined to go down as one of the best white-ball batsmen of all time, and he needs to do little more than lead by his current example.
That might be easiest done by putting any talk of a Test return to bed, particularly after Kumar Sangakkara - his director of cricket at Rajasthan Royals - touted Buttler as a red-ball opener in the new McCullum-Stokes regime.
Buttler rightly scoffed at this during a BBC interview on Friday, and later revealed that "there isn't a red ball in my bag at the moment".
"It's quite obvious at the minute I was left out on merit," he said. "Rightfully so. I had a poor Ashes series and I'm not part of the team at the moment, and the team is playing fantastically well so it doesn't look like a team that needs people to get into it.
"I'm very focused on the white-ball stuff, and really excited for the challenge that lies ahead. I think it's going to be a really big challenge and one that needs my [attention] full-time.
"Certainly being captain, white ball is my No.1 priority so I'm really excited for that. Talking about the Test stuff might be a question that never has to be answered unless someone wants to pick me for the team – which hasn't been the case."
Buttler is not a stranger to the captaincy, having taken temporary charge in the absence of Morgan on nine occasions in ODIs and five times in T20Is.
Jos Buttler is in no hurry to return to the Test side [Mark Kolbe/Getty Images]
He considers learning "to really trust your decision" as a key part of leadership on the field - a skill Morgan was particularly adept in - and makes no secret of his willingness to go by his instincts.
"The onfield stuff is something I'm comfortable with," he said. "It's about learning all the different aspects of captaincy."
It is a considerable role, incorporating media management, selection strategy, and forward planning of player workloads at a time when England's cricketers are being routed and rerouted around the world like lost luggage.
Buttler's first task as the new skipper was to play a prominent role in selecting two white-ball squads, for the T20 and ODI series against India.
"It's different, isn't it? You're a bit more accountable than just having an opinion," he said. "It was exciting."
Different and exciting: two words which summed up England under Morgan and Buttler as a batsman. It feels unlikely that under the new captain, anything is going to change.
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