England captain Jos Buttler has accepted that England’s leadership in white-ball cricket needs to come under careful consideration. He said the team will undergo a limited overs leadership review.

It comes as his side crashed out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, again failing to clear an expected qualification hurdle of progressing past the group stage of a 50-over ICC event after losses to Australia and Afghanistan.

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It’s the second straight men’s ODI tournament where they’ve missed out on reaching the top four.

Speaking after their loss to Afghanistan, in what was arguably the most gripping match of the Champions Trophy so far, the England captain addressed queries about the team’s leadership head on.

He was asked, specifically, whether he remains the right man for the job. “The results aren’t where they need to be and I personally need to consider all possibilities,” Buttler said.

“We need to get us, as a team, back to where England cricket needs to be in the white-ball formats. And I think I’ve got to work out, personally, am I part of the problem or am I part of the solution?”

Buttler confirmed he will be considering his future as captain over the coming days. Bear in mind, England will conclude their Champions Trophy campaign on Saturday against a South Africa side potentially looking to stamp their place in the semi-finals.

“(I will) take a little bit of time to just work out personally what I think is right,” he continued.

“I’m not going to make any emotional decisions right here, right now. You’re probably not the first people I’d discuss that with.

“Results are tough and they weigh heavy at times. And, of course, you want to be leading a winning team and we haven’t been that for a while now so obviously that brings some difficult moments.”

Former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop further validated England’s leadership dilemma, speaking in Lahore after Afghanistan’s victory. “They have to be a much better team than that,” he said.

“I think there might be leadership questions now, given the history that they’ve had from 2019, and that is all I think it is, because I think the quality is there, but they are not harnessing it. And that might just mean maybe another leadership.”

England will rue missed opportunities, since the side set up winning opportunities in both of their Champions Trophy matches. It took a record run chase for Australia to edge them out earlier in the tournament, while Afghanistan claimed a cliff-hanger.

Buttler declared his side needed to get better at closing.

“We had our chances in the game. We’re obviously gutted,” he continued.

“A more firing, confident team would have got over the line tonight. It’s up to us as individuals, as a team, and as a whole group to find ways to get ourselves back where we need to be.

“I got myself into a nice position again. And I just haven’t been converting those positions in the recent past into some of the innings that I’ve played in an England shirt in the past. And that’s obviously a frustration.

“Credit to Ibrahim (Zadran), he played a really fantastic innings, but to go for 113 (runs) in the last 10 was obviously a few too many, and that added a few extra obviously onto the chase and in the chase Joe Root played typical Joe Root innings full of class and composure and character and skill and it needed one of us in the top six to go with him for longer.”