Jos Buttler quits as England's white-ball captain after Champions Trophy 2025 exit

Jos Buttler has announced that he is stepping down as England's white-ball captain following their disappointing exit from the Champions Trophy. He shared this news on Friday, stating that he will lead the team for the last time in their upcoming match against South Africa in Karachi.

England's campaign in the Champions Trophy ended prematurely after they lost their first two group matches to Australia and Afghanistan. Despite their best efforts, they could not advance to the next round. Before the tournament, the team held a training camp in India, where they faced significant challenges, managing to win only one out of eight matches under the leadership of Brendon McCullum, their new white-ball coach.

"I'm going to stand down as England captain," Buttler said. "It's the right decision for me and the right decision for the team. Hopefully somebody else who can come in alongside Baz will take the team to where it needs to be."

"The overriding emotions are still sadness and disappointment. I'm sure, in time, that will pass and I can get back to really enjoying my cricket, and [will] also be able to reflect on what an immense honour it is to captain your country and all the special things that come with it."

Buttler took over from Eoin Morgan in June 2022 and led England to a T20 World Cup victory in Australia later that year. However, since then, England's performance has sharply declined. After three consecutive disappointing ICC events—the 2023 50-over World Cup, the 2024 T20 World Cup, and the 2025 Champions Trophy—Buttler has decided to resign from his role.

After England's narrow eight-run loss to Afghanistan on Wednesday, marking their ninth defeat in 10 white-ball matches this year, Buttler suggested he might step down. He mentioned the importance of assessing all options and figuring out if he was part of the problem or part of the solution.

"It was quite clear that this tournament was going to be important: results-wise and for my captaincy," Buttler said. "Two losses and being out of the tournament [was] a bit of a hangover of tournaments before. I'd just reached the end of the road for me and my captaincy, which is a shame and I'm sad about that.

"With Brendon coming in only recently, I was really excited to work closely alongside him and hope for a very quick turnaround and to take the team forward. But it's not quite worked out that way, so just feels like the right time for me and the team to have a change."

Buttler's position as captain of the England ODI team has been criticized due to their poor performance in the World Cup and subsequent matches, with a streak of losses. England only won three out of nine group games in the World Cup and have lost 18 of the last 25 ODIs, including being eliminated early from the Champions Trophy.

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