Buttler buoyant again — but England blow it
JOS BUTTLER admitted doubting he would ever get a recall after making 43 on his return to the Test side as England blew a golden chance on the first day of the Third Test against India in Mohali.
Coming in at No7 as a specialist batsman for his first Test innings since October 2015, Buttler put on 69 with wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow, only for the tourists to close on a below-par 268 for eight after winning a supposedly crucial toss.
‘It was great to be out there in the middle and playing again,’ he said. ‘There are times when you question if you will get another chance.
‘The day could have gone better for the team. There were a few dismissals that could have been avoided, but at the end of the day a few started to spin and keep low. You’re always in the game with runs on the board.’
But there was no escaping the conclusion that — following totals of 255 and 158 in their defeat in the second Test at Visakhapatnam — England had missed a glorious opportunity to force their way back into the series.
Despite that, Bairstow — who top-scored with 89 in what has become his own personal annus mirabilis — did his best to sugar the pill.
‘Having won the toss, it was disappointing to lose the wickets we have,’ he said. ‘But it could have been a disastrous day as well.
‘If we hadn’t knuckled down and worked hard through that last bit of the morning session, we could have been bowling before the close.’
It was Bairstow’s 10th score of 50 or more in Test this year from No5 or below — a feat only West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews have previously achieved.
And he now has a maximum of five innings left in this series to score the 142 he will need to become England’s highest Test run-scorer in a calendar year.
The record currently belongs to Michael Vaughan, who made 1,481 in 2002.
‘It’s about finding a method of scoring runs,’ said Bairstow, who was eventually trapped leg-before by off-spinner Jayant Yadav. ‘The conditions all year — in South Africa, then throughout the summer, and in Bangladesh and India — have all been different.
‘But I was cheesed off to get out like that. That hurt me pretty bad. I thought I’d played quite nicely. I was desperately disappointed to get out at the end of the day.’
Meanwhile, Ben Stokes came a step closer to a potential ban after he was reprimanded by the International Cricket Council for making ‘inappropriate comments’ following his dismissal on the first day.
After he was stumped off Ravindra Jadeja for 29, the England allrounder stopped in his tracks as he headed to the pavilion, seemingly in response to words directed at him by Indian captain Virat Kohli.
Stokes’ reaction prompted umpire Marais Erasmus to hurry him off the field, then have a word with Kohli — though only Stokes was deemed to have breached Level 1 of the ICC’s Code of Conduct, which penalises ‘language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting’.
It is the second time this winter that Stokes has fallen foul of the match referee, having been fined 15 per cent of his match fee during the second Test against Bangladesh at Dhaka after a niggly exchange with batsman Sabbir Rahman.