Jos Buttler has described his recent omission from the England Test team as "a relief".

The wicket-keeper struggled for runs throughout the summer's Ashes and his negative form continued during the recent tour of the United Arab Emirates against Pakistan, where he scored just 34 runs in four innings before he was dropped in favour of Jonny Bairstow.

Speaking to The Telegraph, the 25-year-old conceded that he had reached the point where he wanted to be left out of the team.

"You get to a place where you are thinking 'today I have to get runs or can you just drop me and get me out of this'. It was a relief to get dropped which is sad in a way because you never want to miss a game. But I was not performing and mentally I got to a stage where I was not concentrating and did not want to be there," he said.

"I was not enjoying walking out there and feeling like I didn't know where the next run was coming from. I would also worry that I would miss a nick when keeping because I would be thinking about batting too much.

"Keeping wicket is the worst place to be when out of form. You can't hide at fine leg where you might touch the ball once every 10 overs. Behind the wicket you are involved every ball."

Despite his lack of runs, Buttler has still been included in the England squad for the upcoming trip to South Africa.