Eoin Morgan: I'd love to see Jos Buttler play Abu Dhabi T10

England captain talks about his hopes for this year's tournament which is slated to start on November 19

England captain Eoin Morgan, centre left, says the teammate he would most like to see play Abu Dhabi T10 is Jos Buttler, centre right. Reuters

Eoin Morgan wants to see Jos Buttler involved when the Aldar Properties Abu Dhabi T10 returns in November.

Despite the scheduling issues affecting world cricket brought about by coronavirus, the next season of T10 has been confirmed for November 19-28.

That means a start date four days after the World T20 final is scheduled in Australia.

Morgan was the captain of Kerala Kings when they won the first T10 league tournament in Sharjah in 2017, and has been an ever present in the seasons since.

Although a number of his fellow England World Cup winners, like Jonny Bairstow, Liam Plunkett and Moeen Ali, have played T10 in the past three years, Buttler has been conspicuous by his absence.

The winter schedule for all teams is unclear at present, but Morgan is hoping there is a window for his big-hitting colleague to join the event in the capital.

“I’d love to see Jos Buttler playing T10,” Morgan said.

“The tournament has been going for long enough now that every international cricketer knows about it.

“It is a part of the calendar that guys, if they are available to play – providing they are not playing all three formats of the game internationally – they will try and get there.

“It is incredibly fun. It brings with it a feel good, freestyle attitude. Every cricketer wants to play with that modern attitude.

“If I was picking one player out of our team to come to play, it would be Jos Buttler.”

There is already certain to be a logjam of tournaments vying for airtime later this year, with the entire Indian Premier League, as well as the playoff phase of the Pakistan Super League, suspended indefinitely.

Although the future of the game remains clouded by the global health situation, Morgan said he had become increasingly optimistic in recent days that there could be cricket played during the English season.

It has been suggested there could be six Test matches played – three each against West Indies and Pakistan – at two “bio-secure” venues.

Morgan and the rest of the England players were due to discuss the latest developments with the England and Wales Cricket Board on Monday afternoon.

England’s limited-overs captain expects football will take the lead in returning to action first, suggesting they will take “incredibly drastic measures to make safety a priority”.

“In the past month, everybody has struggled to get a sense of what might be possible, and what might or might not happen,” Morgan said.

“The ECB, along with the government, are trying to make everything they can possible and bio secure for us to play, hopefully international cricket to start with, then on top of that some county cricket as well.”

However the logistics are worked out is likely to have a knock on effect on player availability for the T10.

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Maratha Arabians win 2019 Abu Dhabi T10

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Morgan, though, is focused on a return to a format he says he enjoys – and one that he reckons it is possible to strategise for.

“Last year, with the Delhi Bulls, we didn’t have enough guys in form at the top of the order to capitalise on [the Powerplays], and equally we didn’t bowl well enough in those overs,” Morgan said.

“Playing at a new ground [Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi] this season gives it better characteristics. In Sharjah, it was really crash, bang, wallop.

“This season, the characteristics of the wicket changed day by day. That was probably a good thing.

“Strategy-wise, a little bit like T20, you need to identify the most important parts of the game.

“In T20, it depends who you are playing against, but in the majority of T20 games, the most important part is overs 10 to 20.

“If you look at a T10 game, the earlier overs are the most important. You need to make the most of that very short Powerplay."