BUTTLER DID IT (ALMOST SINGLE-HANDEDLY

A fantastic stumping, a sensational run-out and a mesmerising century as Jos leads England to historic whitewash

JOS BUTTLER is routinely called a freak and he showed why in sunny Manchester to inflict England’s first-ever 5-0 whitewash on the Aussies.

Australia had no answer to Buttler’s sixth, slowest but most significant one-day ton as he guided England from a losing position at 114-8 to a stunning one-wicket win.

Buttler had never faced more than 100 balls in a one-day innings, but here he crafted

110 not out from 122 balls and masterminded the

206 run-chase to perfection, steering his team from 27-4 to their target.

England had no right to win this game when Adil

Rashid joined Buttler at the crease, but they added

81 then Jake Ball survived a nail-biting 10 balls to see the game home.

“We were determined to win 5-0,” said man-of-the-series Buttler (below). “And winning games that you don’t deserve to are the more enjoyable ones.

“This is probably the best cricket I’ve played in my career and the most enjoyable thing is the consistency. I’ve watched guys around the world who seem to turn up and do it every day and it is about working out how that is possible.

“I just needed a partnership and that is one of the features of this side that we bat all the way down and you’ve got someone with the quality of Rash coming in at 10.

“It was an enjoyable innings to play and it is a great feeling to be there at the end and hit the winning runs. It was pure elation.”

It was a bad day at the office for England’s batsmen after the bowlers had done brilliantly and with Buttler bringing out all his tricks – including glove work – for the crowd.

Earlier in the day there was a stumping of Shaun Marsh when he dared to lift his foot off the ground pushing at Moeen Ali, then Buttler ran out Tim Paine with an incredible individual pick-up and direct hit off balance.

With MS Dhoni and Kumar Sangakkara now in international retirement, there is simply no better white-ball wicket-keeper batsman in the global game.

“He’s very good,” said Paine. “Right now he would have to be the best white-ball wicket-keeper batsman in the world.

‘‘I don’t think there are too many challenging him right at the peak of his powers.

“He is someone our batters can watch and that experience will be really good for our guys to see. Maybe we can have a chat with him and see what we can get out of him!”

Buttler added: “The two sides of the game probably help each other.

‘‘If you perform in one area, it helps you relax into the other.”