Buttler eager to lead the way in 'surreal' challenge

England captain Jos Buttler has said that he wants to show the way for his young side with his own performances in the one-day series against Bangladesh that begins on Friday. Buttler will become his country's first wicketkeeper-captain in ODIs since Alec Stewart last did the job in 2003.

The role becomes more challenging in the conditions in Dhaka where the first match is taking place. The humidity has been quite high, which has made the heat harsher. But there is also rain in the air, at least on the day before the game, which could cause difficulties with selection as there is likely to be slight change in pitch behaviour.

Buttler has only previously captained England in one T20 against Pakistan last year so the Bangladesh experience will be the first time he has the role for an entire series. He wants to enjoy the new challenge and is eager to get started.

"I think something I really want to try and do is lead from the front with performance," Buttler said. "I'm desperate to do it. It's a young and exciting squad and it's down to me to stand up and lead from the front. It will be a very proud moment. It's a fantastic honour to lead the side and to walk out as captain. It will be a little bit surreal I guess but I want to enjoy the challenge, take it in my stride and be myself. I want to get on with the job and hopefully lead he side to a series win."

Buttler was made captain after Eoin Morgan pulled out of the tour for security reasons. So did Alex Hales while Joe Root was rested for the limited-overs leg. Places were opened up as a result, and now it appears James Vince and Ben Duckett will bat in England's top-order in the first ODI. Both batted reasonably well in the practice match against the BCB XI though Duckett got out when his bat flew out of his hand as he attempted a reverse sweep off Shuvagata Hom.

Buttler said that Duckett's runs this county season will give him the confidence to start off his international career and he expects the newcomer to bat just like he did for Northamptonshire this season.

"He's had a fantastic year, he's high on confidence and I think the group he's coming into, he's played a lot of cricket with the guys in the squad and he's obviously very important around the guys," Buttler said.

"I expect him to go out there and play the way that's been successful for him so far. It's an exciting debut for someone who has really stood up with the volume of runs and the fashion he's been doing it in. All the guys are very excited for him and I expect him to go out there and enjoy it and relish the occasion and make the most of it."

Buttler believes that the England side has the ability to adjust to conditions. So even though he hadn't seen the pitch until the press conference at around 3.00pm on Thursday, he was confident that his team would understand the importance of starting well in a short ODI series such as this.

"A big strength of England cricket in all forms now is looking at what we do well and concentrating on our strengths so we will be looking at what we can bring tomorrow. Adapting to the conditions will be massive.

"We've only played one warm-up game and had a couple of practice sessions so come tomorrow we will have to have that ODI intensity and hit the ground running. A couple of times in recent series we haven't started as well as we'd like to so that's something everyone is very aware of. This is only a three-match series so each game is absolutely vital. To hit the ground running as best we can, it will be huge."