‘Maiden Test hundred my proudest moment’
nottingham — Jos Buttler said nothing he had done before in an England career across all formats could top his maiden Test century on Tuesday.
Buttler made 106 and together with Ben Stokes (62) put on 169 for the fifth wicket as England ensured the third Test against India at Trent Bridge would go into Wednesday’s final day.
Buttler, after being dropped on one by wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, was largely untroubled.
But the advent of the second new ball sparked a flurry of late wickets that started when Buttler was lbw playing no shot to fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah.
Nevertheless, Buttler had a measure of satisfaction that in his 38th Test innings and four years after his debut, when he made his previous highest score at this level of 85, against India at Southampton, he had finally reached three figures.
“This is definitely the proudest moment in an England shirt,” Buttler said. “It (the century) has been a long time coming, and a few months ago it was a million miles away.”
It has been a long time coming, and a few months ago it was a million miles away
Jos Buttler
England white-ball wicket-keeper Buttler was recalled to the Test side purely on his form in the Twenty20 Indian Premier League earlier this season in one of Ed Smith’s first acts as the new national selector.
“I was never sure if I’d ever play Test cricket again,” said Buttler, appearing in his 23rd match at this level. “Definitely there were times when I thought that race was run.”
Buttler and Stokes’s stand was a new fifth-wicket record for England in the fourth innings of a Test, surpassing the 163 shared by Willie Watson and Trevor Bailey against Australia at Lord’s in 1953.
But whereas Watson and Bailey’s celebrated partnership helped England to a battling draw, Buttler and Stokes appear merely to have delayed an India win.