Hot-shot Jos silences his critics with half-century
JOE Root and Jos Buttler kicked off England’s tour of Sri Lanka with half-centuries as the tourists were bowled out for 316 on day one of their opening warm-up match in Katunayake.
Root made a sound 78 against a SLC Board XI before Lancashire’s Buttler, who has faced question marks over his place in the Test side following a poor spell of form, bested him by a single run to finish as top-scorer.
Buttler occupied the crease for three-and-quarter hours against a gentle attack, facing 159 balls for his 79 but England admitted that pitch conditions were not exactly as expected.
Their last series on these shores, a 3-0 whitewash for the tourists in 2018, was dominated by spin and the first Test on March 19 is being staged in Galle, one of world cricket’s most reliable turning tracks.
Here, though, England were served up a green-tinged pitch, on which seamers took seven of the 10 wickets to fall. In the first session there were just two overs of spin, the exact opposite of what can be anticipated in the series proper.
Regardless of the surface itself, the sight of Buttler batting long and showing confidence, not least when hoisting the only six of the day down the ground, was a welcome one.
He has the full faith of the management and selectors but with Ben Foakes, man-of-theseries on the last visit to Sri Lanka, providing competition as wicketkeeper-batsman the challenge is clear.
“It will have brought Jos some confidence, how well he has played today and he’ll take that forward. It’s great to see him out there doing well,” said head coach Chris Silverwood.