Buttler calling for the big two

ONE-DAY HOPES FOR STOKES AND ROOT

- David Charlesworth

JOS BUTTLER has his fingers crossed that Ben Stokes and Joe Root fancy white-ball returns as he bids to get the England team "back to where we want to be".

Youth has been given an opportunity since England surrendered both limited-overs World Cups and they ended a tour of the Caribbean with a first T20 series victory overseas in more than two years.

But they have lost 13 of 20 ODIS dating back to the start of last year's World Cup debacle in India, with neither Stokes nor Root pulling on England colours since the end of that campaign.

Stokes opted out of this year's T20 World Cup, but he has intimated he would be open to a white-ball comeback when McCullum takes Brendon charge of all three England formats in January.