Jos Buttler is determined to prolong his England career after the “surreal” feeling of becoming the country’s most-capped player across the formats.
The 35-year-old made his 402nd appearance against Sri Lanka on Sunday, with his 146th T20I added to 199 ODIs and 57 Test matches.
Buttler will be a key man as England look to win the T20 World Cup live on Sky Sports from February 7 to March 8, but the wicketkeeper-batter is looking beyond that event as well.
Buttler made his England debut in 2011
He said: “To have played 400 is awesome. It’s a bit surreal. That hunger and desire to play for England is always strong and burns bright.
“At this age, people do start asking, ‘what are you going to do next?’ I don’t have a clue, but I know that I don’t really want to put a timeframe on it.
“From speaking to a few guys, they say you just know when the time’s up and you’ll probably wake up one day and just know. I haven’t had that moment yet, so I’ll just keep going until that comes to me.
“Once you get in the team, you think it’s the best thing ever and you just want it to last forever.”
Buttler has hit England’s three-fastest mens’ ODI hundreds, from 46, 47 and 50 balls
‘Looking at the badge is often all the motivation you need’
On his vast number of matches, Buttler added: “I’m just proud of myself to be able to play for that long, to have the resilience to come back from tough times, the desire to improve, keep turning up and working hard.
“I’ve always wanted to try and reach my potential. That’s been my biggest driver over the years, is ‘can I get to the level that I think I can?’
“In a weird way, you probably never ever get there which is what keeps you turning up to train and work hard and try and get better.
“To be honest, there is just a love of playing for England, how special it is. A lot of the time, just simply to look at the badge on your chest or on your cap is all the motivation you need.”
Buttler helped England win the 50-over World Cup final at Lord’s in 2019
Asked about his career highlight, Buttler remarked winning the 50-over World Cup at Lord’s in 2019, when he hit a half-century against New Zealand and then completed the run of Martin Guptill in the Super Over as England triumphed on boundary countback.
“It will be my favourite day and it will take something special to top that,” he said.
Buttler added that lowlights were “falling a bit short” in Test cricket, where he averaged 31.94 with two hundreds and 18 fifties, and the “disappointment” of how his white-ball captaincy ended after a group-stage exit at the 2025 Champions Trophy.
The batter said: “For me, I think Test cricket was the pinnacle. Being a 2005 child [and watching the Ashes that year], that was always the thing.
“I think Test cricket can challenge you in every single way that the game of cricket can. I see that as the ultimate test.”
England in Sri Lanka – results and fixtures
All times UK and Ireland
England’s T20 World Cup fixtures (first round)
All times UK and Ireland; all games live on Sky Sports
vs Nepal (Sunday February 8) – Mumbai (9.30am)vs West Indies (Wednesday February 11) – Mumbai (1.30pm)vs Scotland (Saturday February 14) – Kolkata (9.30am)vs Italy (Monday February 16) – Kolkata (9.30am)
