OUT OF THIS WORLD
Buttler blitz lights up record romp
IT WAS tempting to feel some sympathy on a day when the bat of Jos Buttler led England to a world record score.
Sympathy for Dutch bowlers who conceded a record 26 sixes in a total of 498.
Sympathy for Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan who managed to miss out on a day which saw three England centuries for the first time in an ODI.
And sympathy for the treasurer of the KNCB, the Dutch Cricket Board, who will be eyeing nervously the second and third days of this series, given Buttler sent nine balls, at €100 a pop, sailing out of the ground and into the forest.
Holland replied to England’s monstrous score with 266 all out, a total which 20 years ago might have been a winning one.
Not now. Not in the age of Buttler and his ilk.
Getting the numbers out of the way, it was a day which saw Buttler, Phil Salt, with a first hundred for England, and Dawid Malan all reach three figures.
Liam Livingstone, joining the party after Morgan fell lbw first ball, nearly pulled off the fastest half-century on record, missing out on eclipsing AB de Villiers’ 16-ball 50 by two balls and having to settle for the fastest for England.
This was an astonishing display of hitting and Buttler, with 162 off just 70 balls, was breathtaking.
When Malan had 99, Buttler was on 17 off 16 balls. It took him just 31 more to get his 100 and only 50 to overtake the No.3. Sri Lanka once smashed 443 on what is a small ground but this was an utterly dominant performance and the 232-run win the perfect start for new coach Matthew Mott.
Malan and Salt might feel slightly aggrieved to be overshadowed on a day when the former became only the second man to score tons in three formats for England.
You can guess the first. That man Buttler was dropped at long off on 37 off Dutch captain Pieter Seelaar by Musa Nadeem and plundered 21 off on over from Aryan Dutt to reach his century.
He hit 14 sixes and took England past their previous best score of 481 with a maximum over cow corner.
Livingstone hit another with the last ball.
The all-rounder had earlier punched his bat after missing out on the fastest 50 and there will be frustration in England’s dressing room that they fell two runs short of 500.
There is always tomorrow.