Brendon McCullum tells ‘bit miserable’ Jos Buttler to enjoy rest of his career | Jos Buttler

Brendon McCullum has backed Jos Buttler as England captain to restore his country's reputation in the white-ball game, insisting he is “very confident” the 33-year-old is the right man to lead England's limited-overs team. But he also suggests Buttler's leadership is hampered by the fact that he is “not as expressive as some” and “can be a bit pathetic at times”, and that his main job as coach will be “to create an environment where players feel positive and can fulfil their talents”.

Buttler led England to victory in the 2022 T20 World Cup within months of taking over from Eoin Morgan but has failed to sustain that level of success, with the team suffering hugely disappointing results in the 50-over and 20-over tournaments over the past 10 months. Those performances cost white-ball coach Matthew Mott his job and McCullum agreed this week to take on the role in addition to the one he has held with the Test team.

“I think he's done a fantastic job,” McCullum, who will formally take charge of the white-ball team in January, said of Buttler. “He's won a World Cup as captain. He's an incredibly talented player and a great leader. My job is to get the best performance out of him so that everyone sitting in the dressing room feels like they're 10ft tall and bulletproof when they go out to play and knows their captain is going to have fun with them.”

“All I want for Jos is to enjoy the next few years. If he retired today he would probably go down in history as the greatest white-ball player England has ever produced. So just use the next three or four years, however long he plays, as an opportunity to enjoy it – not to protect anything. Just get the best out of the players around you, keep stepping up to the risk, play with a smile and do some really cool things that will allow you to look back and say, 'Yeah, those last few years have been really fun'.”

Buttler cannot yet resume his captaincy duties as he will miss the T20 series against Australia, which begins next Wednesday, due to a recurrence of the calf injury that ruined his season. Buttler has not played a match since India's loss to India in the T20 World Cup semi-final in June after suffering the injury while on holiday running on the beach. He may also miss the ODI series against Australia, which begins on September 19.

Phil Salt, who replaced Buttler as captain of Manchester Originals in the Hundred, will lead the T20 team in Buttler's absence. Harry Brook is scheduled to replace Buttler in the ODIs. Unplayed Essex batsman Jordan Cox has been added to the 50-over squad as a reserve, while Surrey's Jamie Overton, who is batting this summer while recovering from a stress fracture in his hip, will be added to the T20 squad.

The third and final Test match against Sri Lanka starts on Friday as England seek to win a summer tournament clean sheet for only the second time since the 1950s, but McCullum's next job will be to prepare his team for the three-Test match series against Pakistan, which is still full of uncertainty just over four weeks before it is due to start. The original schedule was for the matches to be played in Multan, Karachi and Rawalpindi, but Karachi's stadium is being rebuilt ahead of the Champions Trophy in February and is unlikely to be completed in time. Alternative venues are being considered, reportedly including several outside the country.

“I can't pick my team until I know where we're going to be playing,” McCallum said. “We'll find out in the next few days and then we'll sit down and make sure we field the right team for the right conditions and the right opponents.”