It was a Jos Buttler show at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium as he struck a magnificent century to topple an upbeat Sri Lankan bowling attack on November 1. His unbeaten 101 meant that he hit the first century of the ICC men’s T20 World Cup and also recorded the second-highest individual score for England in the T20 World Cup. The first was registered by Alex Hales (116 not out vs Sri Lanka in 2014).
In the Super 12 group 1 match, Sri Lanka bowlers struck early, picking up a couple of wickets inside the powerplay. At one time England were 35/3. But a solid 112-run partnership between Buttler and Eoin Morgan (40 off 36 balls) helped England to post a competitive total.
After the early jolts, Buttler and Morgan played a calculated innings as they motored the English forward. However, it was after the drinks break and especially after the 16th over that Buttler started clobbering the Lankan bowlers.
During his stay in the middle, the right-handed batsman hit six boundaries and as many maximums. He was striking at 150.75.
Jos Buttler’s highest scores in T20Is
101* vs SL, 2021
83* vs Ind, 2021
77* vs Aus, 2020
73* vs SL, 2016
71* vs Aus, 2021
The following stats will show how belligerent was Buttler’s hitting:
Sri Lanka bowling tonight:
Pacers: 12-0-128-1 | Econ 10.67
Spinners: 8-0-34-3 | Econ 4.25
Talking about Buttler’s performance, Paul Collingwood, England’s assistant coach, said: “We witnessed a very very special T20 innings, we were in trouble after 10 overs, but getting 116 in the next 10 makes it special. It’s a difficult pitch, the ball isn’t coming on, the pitch is on the slow side, the bounce isn’t consistent, can’t play cross-batted shots, that makes Buttler’s innings so good.”
“But we will still have to go out there and bowl well. I thought the partnership was mature (between Morgan and Buttler), they took their time, assessed the wicket and then started scoring,” Collingwood added.
As far as the match is concerned, Sri Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga caused all sorts of problems for England, finishing the match with figures of 3/21.
Apart from Buttler and Morgan, no other England batsman could cross the double-figure mark.
