An open and shut case as the Buttler does it
JOS TEES UP HISTORIC EARLY WIN FROM START
JOS BUTTLER dished out a clinical T20 lesson to secure England’s first ever series win over the Aussies with a game to spare.
At the end of a brutal over against the bowling of Adam Zampa, Buttler sent the winning blow soaring into the top tier of the Rod Bransgrove Pavilion as if he were teeing up on the golf course behind him.
It sealed an emphatic sixwicket win over the lacklustre tourists and gave him his highest T20 score to boot.
Buttler’s 77 not out from 54 balls ended the debate over whether he should be England’s T20 opener or finisher. He can be both.
“It is the best place to bat in T20 cricket,” said Buttler.
“And it’s a great thing when you can walk off having seen your team over the line.
“It is my favourite place to bat. We’ve probably got eight or nine guys to bat in the top three. I’m very happy there, but I’ll do what the team needs of me. The decision is for the coach and the captain to decide.
“I’ve missed playing T20 cricket and was really looking forward to these games and playing against Australia is always an extra motivation to do well.”
If Buttler was the star with the bat, then Jofra Archer, inset, and Mark Wood were irresistible with the ball, bowling their quickest spells of the
summer,
Archer touching 96mph. It put the skids under Australia’s innings from the off, and from 30- 3 following Steve Smith’s kamikaze run- out, their hopes of setting up a decider tomorrow took a nosedive.
Archer’s pace was something to behold and is precisely what Joe Root is trying to harness in the next Ashes.
Buttler confirmed: “As an opening batsman the last man I want to face is Jofra Archer with a brand- new ball.”
Mitchell Starc is in the same category, but t Buttler dealt with his s thunderbolts to remind nd everyone why he is rightly regarded as one of the finest white- ball cricketers the game has ever seen.
He took calculated risks within the opening powerplay before mixing precision with power to leave Australia’s bowlers scratching their head for a solution.
Starc said: “He’s a clean striker of the ball and hard to stop once he gets going. He’s someone we need to get a plan for over the rest of these white- ball games.” A target of 158 after Australia had spluttered to 157- 7 always felt on the light side, but on a pitch that was being used for the second time in three days the visitors had a chance.
They needed to pick up wickets to make the most of that chance but for much of England’s innings they failed to do so until Dawid Malan, Tom Banton and Eoin Morgan all fell in quick succession.
The memory of A Australia’s Friday n night choke was still fr fresh enough in the m memory for Buttler to make sure he stuck around to the happy e end.
It allowed Moeen Ali to ease the pressure in the penultimate over with a monster six and four of his own to take England up to the line before Buttler swatted them over it.
Buttler added: “Mo said he fancied taking on the leg spinner and it takes courage to play like that, but he did it brilliantly and made the finish much easier for me.”