England Test head coach Brendon McCullum cannot see any reason why Jos Buttler's destructive white-ball form could not carry over into five-day cricket.
Buttler blasted the Rajasthan Royals into their first Indian Premier League final for 14 years with a blistering unbeaten 106 off just 60 balls to secure a seven-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday.
That took the 31-year-old to four centuries in this IPL campaign – as many as every other player combined – and five hundreds in total, just one shy of Chris Gayle's record of scoring six tons in the competition in his career.
Buttler will look to deliver again when the Royals face Gujarat Titans in the final in Ahmedabad on Sunday, and his form has led to questions whether he could make a return to England's Test side.
England dropped Buttler after the wicketkeeper-batsman averaged 15.3 during the most recent Ashes thrashing by Australia. He has scored only two centuries in 100 Test innings.
But the newly appointed McCullum – who faces home nation New Zealand in his first series in charge, starting on Thursday – can envisage Buttler taking his white-ball skills into red-ball cricket.
"Jos is one of those players you look at instantly and think: how could he be so dominant in one form of the game and not quite have found his feet, other than a few fleeting performances, in Test cricket?" McCullum said.
"There's no reason why, if you're good at T20, you can't bring those skills into Test cricket.
"There's certainly guys you look at and think there's a lot of talent that could improve the side given the right opportunity. It's just a matter of trying to identify how they're going to do that."
Moeen Ali, who played for Chennai Super Kings in this year's IPL, is another name linked with a return to England's Test side, along with Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid.
"I'm sure if Mo wanted to [play Test cricket] and was prepared to put the yards in to make it back into the side, then he'd challenge, no doubt," McCullum added.
"Livingstone, Moeen, Rashid. All these guys have played international cricket before, been successful in the other forms of the game, and you'd think they'd be able to transition across, but we'll see.
"I look at them and think there'll be a time where they may get an opportunity if they're invested enough.
"There's probably been a bit of hurt at times for those guys, too, because they've been in the team at times and then out of the team at others, and there hasn't been that persistence for them.
"I'm not sure you're going to play someone like Rashid every game, every year, anyway. He might not even be interested, so we might be talking about something we don't need to be.
"But my mentality is: if they're the best cricketers, why not have a conversation and see where you get to?
"If we're playing an attractive brand of cricket, we're successful and people are getting right behind what we're doing, then that might pique a bit of the interest of some of those guys. We'll build it first, then we'll see."
Livingstone has played 20 limited-overs internationals for England but is yet to feature for the Test side.
Questions remain over his interest in the longest format, with lucrative deals on offer in the IPL, and McCullum believes a discussion must be had with Livingstone over his commitments.
"A conversation needs to be had about what his appetite for Test cricket is. If he is keen on playing, then how does he see himself getting into the side?" McCullum said.
"Just because you're a good cricketer, it doesn't mean you automatically get selected. You've still got to earn the right to be able to do so."
Leeds United 4-0 Norwich City (4-0 agg): Whites book Wembley spot in emphatic fashion
Leeds United thumped Norwich City 4-0 in the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final to seal their place at Wembley.
After a goalless draw in the first leg left it all to play for at Elland Road on Thursday, Leeds turned on the style in front of a raucous home crowd to cruise into the final on May 26.
Ilia Gruev settled the majority of Elland Road's nerves with just seven minutes played as he caught out Angus Gunn with a long-range free-kick, curling into the space vacated by the Norwich goalkeeper's expectation of a cross.
Joel Piroe then doubled the hosts' advantage 13 minutes later, again capitalising on poor goalkeeping to beat Gunn to Wilfried Gnonto's cross and nod home.
The tie was effectively over five minutes from half-time, Georginio Rutter getting on the end of Crysencio Summerville's squared pass to rifle off the underside of the crossbar and in.
And after Gunn spilled Gnonto's low shot in the second half, Rutter cut the ball back for Summerville to poke home and secure Leeds' place in next Sunday's final, where they will meet either Southampton or West Brom.
Data debrief
Leeds may have looked pretty blunt in attack at Carrow Road, but that was far from the case on home soil as they put the Canaries to the sword in brutal fashion while keeping a 21st Championship clean sheet this season, more than any other side.
Daniel Farke's men produced 2.45 xG (expected goals) to Norwich's 0.51, while Summerville made it 20 league goals for the season, more than any other Leeds player.
IPL: Washout confirms SRH play-off place
Sunrisers Hyderabad are into the Indian Premier League play-offs despite their game against Gujarat Titans being abandoned without even doing the toss due to rain.
SRH move onto 15 points, with one game remaining, but are now ensured a top-four finish for the first time since 2020.
Their top-two hopes have taken a hit though – they have to beat Punjab Kings in their final game and hope Rajasthan Royals lose to Kolkata Knights Riders to finish second.
The Titans were already out of play-off contention after their previous game against KKR was also called off due to a heavy storm without hitting a ball. They finish their season currently third from bottom, though that could change depending on results in the final few matches.
No spark from Rovman Powell as Curran pilots Punjab Kings over Rajasthan Royals
Sam Curran starred as Punjab Kings moved off the bottom of the Indian Premier League table with a five-wicket victory over second-place Rajasthan Royals.
The Kings successfully chased a target of 145 as Curran finished with an unbeaten 63, including two maximums in the final four balls, to get them over the finish line.
The Royals struggled to find their rhythm until Riyan Parag (48) and Ravichandran Ashwin (28) stepped up to drag them into contention, but the Kings stifled their recovery near the end of the first innings. West Indies captain Rovman Powell (four) was among those that failed to spark at the backend of the Royals innings.
Curran (2-24), Harshal Patel (2-28) and Rahul Chahar (2-26) all played a part in limiting RR to 144-9, though the Kings then looked like they might fall short in the chase.
Sam Curran starred for Punjab Kings.
Punjab captain Curran carried them forward after a slow start, and though Jitesh Sharma was caught for 22 to offer the Royals hope in the 16th over, impact player Ashutosh Sharma contributed an unbeaten 17 in support of Curran, whose big hitting got the job done with an over remaining.
Data Debrief: Patel comes up clutch
Having posted figures of 2-28 on Wednesday, Patel now has 63 wickets in the death overs (16th-20th) in the IPL, the outright fifth-most wickets in this phase in competition history after Dwayne Bravo (102), Lasith Malinga (90), Bhuvaneshwar Kumar (85) and Jasprit Bumrah (80).
His late dismissals of Parag and Donovan Ferreira kept the Royals' score down, then Curran's joint-highest IPL knock ensured the Kings registered a fourth consecutive away victory.
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