Buttler backs England to stay aggressive

(Reuters) - England's batsmen should continue to be aggressive and play even more shots, wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler has said even as the team's top-order crumbled against Sri Lanka in the tied first one-day international on Tuesday. Chasing a target of 287, England were reduced to 30 for four and then 82 for six before Buttler made 93 and Chris Woakes 95 not out to give the hosts a chance of winning at Trent Bridge. Liam Plunkett then smashed the last ball of the match for six to earn his team a dramatic tie against the touring side. "If anything we should come out and play even more shots," Buttler was quoted as saying by the British media. "That's the way we want to play our cricket. We want to put teams under pressure and there's no reason to change. "This style of cricket has been good fun to play in and has given us some success." England have displayed freedom and exuberance in their approach to the limited-overs formats since their humiliating group stage exit at last year's 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Joe Root has been talismanic with the bat for them but the right-hander has suffered a dip in form, scoring 89 in his last five international innings, 80 of which came in one knock. Buttler feared it might have been caused by the heavy workload on Root's shoulders. "He's one of the best in the world and it's probably just because of the high standards he's set... I'm sure he'll bounce back," Buttler said. "He plays all forms of the game and I think that's something England management always have to be careful with... He's a very important player and if he needs a rest he'll say he needs a rest and that will happen." (Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)