Jos Buttler calls Dharamsala outfield poor, urges his players to be careful

Dharamsala: England Captain Jos Buttler on Monday termed the outfield here as poor, and urged his players in the deep to be careful while fielding.

"Yeah a few I think, it's poor in my own opinion. I think any time you're sort of talking about being careful diving or sort of being careful when you're fielding, it sort of goes against everything you want to be as a team.

You know you want to dive through our houses to save a run. So that's obviously not ideal, the way the surface is, the outfield," he told reporters on the eve of the match against Bangladesh.

Urging the players fielding in the deep to be careful, Buttler said the team would not use it as an excuse, but adapt to it.

"But yeah, certainly if you feel like you're having to hold yourself back, it's not a place you want to be as a team or player, or in a World Cup match," he added.

This divergent view comes in the wake of match referee Javagal Srinath declaring himself satisfied with the outfield, which was rated "average" by the International Cricket Council.

Earlier, Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott had contacted England players to warn them about the outfield's condition. Mujeeb-ur-Rahman was "lucky" to avoid a serious injury here.

Asked whether the disappointing result against New Zealand would be the best thing to happen to the team to have another crack, Buttler said there is plenty of hunger in the group and the team is excited to get back on the field.

"Yeah absolutely, very much looking forward. We know we didn't play as well as we can in the last game and you're always desperate to put that right, both individually and as a team. So, there's plenty of hunger in the group and we're excited to get back on the field," he said. (UNI)