T20 World Cup 2021 | Century in all formats is a nice accolade to have, says Jos Buttler
England opener Jos Buttler has said that scoring a century in any format is a nice accolade to have at international level. Buttler smashed 6 fours and as many sixes in his 67-ball innings to bring up his first T20I hundred on a slow wicket as England defeated Sri Lanka by 26 runs on Monday.
Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka won the toss and elected to field first. England had a poor start as they lost three wickets in the powerplay overs in the form of Jason Roy, Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow. Opener Buttler was joined by Eoin Morgan, who has been woefully out of form. Both the senior batsmen stitched a partnership of 112 runs for the fourth wicket. The 31-year-old completed his hundred on the last ball of the innings with a six against Chameera. Wanindu Hasaranga took three wickets while Dushmantha Chameera took one as England set a 164-run target for Sri Lanka.
In reply, Sri Lanka also lost three wickets in the powerplay. Two more wickets fell later as Sri Lanka were left reeling at 76/5 in 11 overs. Hasaranga and Shanaka stitched a partnership of 53 runs for the sixth wicket to keep their team's winning hopes alive. Hasaranga’s innings was cut-short by a brilliant effort on the boundary by Jason Roy and substitute fielder Sam Billings. Roy flicked the ball just before getting in touch with the boundary ropes as Billings completed a relay catch. The islanders could never recover from there and lost the remaining four wickets for just eight runs to lose the game by 26 runs.
Buttler has reflected on his scintillating knock and said that having hit a hundred in all formats of the game was special.
“Yeah, it’s great. It’s probably something I’ll look back on at some point, and it’s a nice accolade to have,” Buttler said.
“Yeah, right up there,” said Buttler at the post match conference when asked whether he rates the innings as one of his best.
“To put in a performance in a World Cup, they’re all must-win games in this tournament, so yeah, delighted. Delighted to, I think, come through the innings, as well. At periods I was finding it tricky, so to use all my experience and stayed patient, trusted that it would come at some point in the innings, and yeah, obviously delighted with the win.
“I think there will be a few more guys who achieve that feat, as well, so yeah, I think just more so just looking at today, just what it means for the team and what it means for us in the competition, that means way more," he added.
Buttler further added that the win against Sri Lanka was special as it came under difficult conditions.
“I think it was a great win for us as a team, to be — the three matches before we’ve won the toss and done what we wanted to do.
“Today to be probably on the worse end of the conditions, to show the character we did as a side, one of our bowlers getting injured, guys having to step up and bowl some overs at tough times. I think the character in the group and what that will do for us as a side is fantastic,” he said.
Buttler also spoke about his partnership with Eoin Morgan (112 runs for the fourth wicket) saying that he enjoyed batting with his captain.
“I enjoyed batting with Morgs (Morgan). I think he’s a great person to have at the other end. We worked it through together, and delighted that we put that partnership together and got ourselves to a score which turned out with the way the conditions went, we needed every run,” Buttler stated.
Buttler, when asked about the last ball-six, said that he kept his cool as he was a set batsman on the pitch.
“I don’t think you get quite enough time for that, but I think just sort of trying to remain calm and hope that he misses his yorker or — I was a bit unsure where he was going to bowl.
“But obviously been at the wicket for a long time and had enough sort of trust to just sort of stand there at that point and hope he missed his yorker. Obviously it’s a fantastic feeling to get that ball away for six and get to a hundred,” Jos explained.
With four wins out of as many games, England are virtually through to the semifinals but Buttler believes there is no room for complacency in a tricky format like T20.
“…obviously delighted to win the game. Four from four is exactly what we want. We want to win every game we play in. The format is tough, and there’s not much room for error, so every game is a massive game.” said Buttler.
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