BUTTLER’S BIT OF ALL WHITE
Jos seals 5-0 joyride
JOS BUTTLER scored a stunning century to drag England over the line to a first 5-0 series whitewash over Australia at Old Trafford yesterday.
Buttler single-handedly kept England’s chase afloat when it threatened to sink without trace at 27-4 and 114-8.
His blistering knock of 110 not out also saw him hit the winning runs as England chased down Australia’s 205 with one wicket and nine balls to spare.
Wicketkeeper/batsman Buttler had already starred in the field in this low-scoring thriller, showing razor-sharp glovework to stump dangerman Shaun Marsh then running out Aussie skipper Tim Paine with a lightning pick-up and direct hit.
His sixth ODI ton came off 117 balls and was all the more special given it came in a match which he admitted England had “no right to win”.
Australia would have been gutted with their total of 205 after racing to 60-0 while Ashton Agar was mortified to be out for a duck, shouldering arms to a straight one from England debutant
Sam Curran.
But if England thought they were already home and dry they got a nasty shock when Agar and Billy Stanlake reduced them to 27-4. Two wickets in his third over from Stanlake, who showed with his 93mph tracers that he could play a part in the Ashes next year, blew the England innings wide open.
But Buttler refused to panic even when he was running out of partners and his 81-run stand with Adil Rashid for the ninth wicket took Eoin Morgan’s side to the brink of victory.
With Jake Ball then holding firm to see off 10 balls as the tension built, Buttler calmly completed the job.
He said: “In a way that is my most enjoyable innings because I was out there thinking I need to be here at the end.
“You’ll probably never match that, plucking it from nowhere when we didn’t really have the right to win the game.
“Winning games when you didn’t deserve to, they’re almost always the more enjoyable ones.
“My all-round game is probably the best it has ever been.
“And the wicketkeeping helps the batting. When you are performing in one area it helps the other.”
Even an unhappy Paine saluted Buttler, saying: “Right now he would have to be the best white ball keeper/ batsman in the world.” Australia won toss AUSTRALIA A Finch 22 T Head 56 M Stoinis 0 S Marsh 8 A Carey 44 T Paine 1 D Short 47 A Agar 0 K Richardson 14 N Lyon 1 B Stanlake 2 Extras 10 Total (34.4 overs) ....................205 Fall:
Bowling:
ENGLAND J Roy 1 J Bairstow 12 A Hales 20 J Root 1 E Morgan 0 J Buttler 110 M Ali 16 S Curran 15 L Plunkett 0 A Rashid 20 J Ball 1 Extras 12 Total 9 wkts (48.3 overs) ........208 Fall:
Bowling: CRICKET Specsavers County Championship Division One – Chelmsford: Tunbridge Wells: Yesterday – 3rd Test Bridgetown: Ageas Bowl: – Swansea:
GOLF
European Tour – BMW International Open – leading final totals
278
280
Others: 282
283
USPGATour –Travelers Champ’ship – leading 3rd rd scores
194 198
199
Others: 202
208
210
MOTORCYCLING World Superbike Championship rd8 – Race One 1
3 Standings: 1 3
MOTOR SPORT
British Touring Car Championship rd5 – Race One: 1
Race Two: 1 Race Three: 1
Standings: 1
2
3
FIA World Touring Car Cup rd5 – Race One: 1 Race Two: 1
Race Three: 1 2 1 2 2
Standings:
4 Other: RUGBY LEAGUE International Match England .................. 36 New Zealand ............ 18 Yesterday Betfred Super League Wakefield ................ 44 Widnes ..................... 22 Wakefield – T:
G:
Widnes – T:
G:
7 207 279
PW D L F A St Helens .......18 16 0 2 581 226 Wigan.............18 13 0 5 471 271 Castleford ......18 12 1 5 415 364 Warrington.....18 12 0 6 421 327 Hull.................18 10 0 8 441 365 Wakefield.......18 9 0 9 413 367 Leeds .............18 7 1 10 347 381 Huddersfield..18 7 1 10 296 516 Catalans.........18 7 0 11 323 440 Salford ...........18 6 0 12 294 425 Hull KR...........18 4 1 13 321 476 Widnes...........18 3 0 15 309 474
Betfred Championship: Yesterday – Pts 32 26 25 24 20 18 15 15 14 12 9 6
RUGBY UNION International Matches Argentina................ 15 Scotland................... 44 Australia ................. 16 Ireland ...................... 20 Canada.................... 17 United States ........... 42 Japan ...................... 28 Georgia ...................... 0 New Zealand........... 49 France ...................... 14 South Africa ........... 10 England.................... 25 SPEEDWAY Championship:
National Trophy: – Championship: TENNIS
ATP Fever-Tree Queen’s Championship – final: ATP Gerry Weber Open
– final:
Nature Valley
– final:
ATP & WTA International
1st rd: Yesterday WTA Club Classic
Nature Valley – women’s
TODAY’S DIARY
CRICKET Specsavers County Championship Division One – Scarborough:
Old Trafford: Chelmsford:
Trent Bridge:
Division Two – Cardiff: Derby: Canterbury: Chester-leStreet:
Tri-Series – Grace Road: SPEEDWAY Premiership:
Travel Plus National League: