Jos Buttler is enjoying the feeling of leading England to victory once again after shaking off the rust as he smashed 83 off 45 balls against the West Indies in Barbados.
England’s white-ball captain hit six sixes (one muscled the roof of the Three Ws stand) and eight fours to power his side’s eight-wicket win as they took a 2-0 lead in the five-match T20 series .
Buttler, who had been sidelined for four months with a calf injury, had just three hits from his first 10 balls in two innings, getting off the mark with a bottom edge that narrowly missed leg-stump.
Buttler, who made a golden duck 24 hours before the series opener, never looked back after smacking four fours and a six in the next six balls as England overhauled their chase of 159 in 14.5 overs.
‘I’m glad to be back’
“I think it’s good for me when you haven’t played in a while,” Butler said. “Honestly, I broke my finger a few years ago and couldn’t play for a while, so it feels really good.
“I haven’t played in four months. I didn’t expect it to come out in the middle on the first ball. I definitely felt a little scratchy in the beginning, but I was able to get over that.
“As soon as I got one in the middle, I felt a lot more comfortable. It was really fun. It was a really good performance from the team and it was great to score again in England’s win.
“(Kensington Oval) is definitely a great place to play cricket. There was a great crowd and a lot of British travel support. “It was very special.”
Despite posting one of the best records in world cricket as a T20 opener (average of 47.19, strikeout rate of 153.1), Buttler decided to give up his wicket-keeping gloves and drop to number three.
But Buttler was in trouble off England’s second reply delivery after the Windies were 158 for eight when England centurion Phil Salt got his first bowler on Saturday.
Buttler put on 129 off 72 balls with Will Jacks, who contributed 38 off 29 deliveries before both teams fell in the same over. However, Liam Livingstone’s 23 off 11 balls put England ahead.
Demotion in batting order
Buttler explained his move down the batting order: “I’ve played all over the order. It’s something new for me and it gives Will Jacks an opportunity to open up.”
“He has performed fantastically well in franchise cricket. This gives Salt and Jacks a chance to actually attack and lets them know I’m behind them. “The only place I play is T20 cricket, so it doesn’t feel much different.”
Saqib Mahmood, Liam Livingstone and Dan Mousley were previously given support to both seamers and spinners as the Windies batted before conditions improved after England won another important toss and the tourists got a reply. They took two wickets each.
Jofra Archer’s figures of 4-0-31-1 do not reflect how handful he was when the ball was moving quickly. His only reward was the wicket of Evin Lewis and a brutal bouncer that brushed the gloves of Phil Salt.
Archer, who has played all three recent ODIs, returned to the England XI after being rested for Saturday’s T20 opener due to Reece Topley’s knee injury, which was not as serious as initially feared.
Buttler added: “We always expect a lot from Jofra because of his abilities.”
“But he hasn’t played cricket for a long time so he’s got a bit of work to do now and I’m sure he’s feeling more and more confident with each game. He bowled beautifully here.”
England travel to St Lucia on Monday. Just one more win in three games on the island will seal their first T20 series win at home in two years.
