In the end it was brutal. Truly brutal. 100 runs off just 46 balls. Record-breaking Jos Buttler.
Jos Buttler has endured a torrid spell with the bat in recent months, culminating in him being dropped for the third Test in the recent series against Pakistan. But the selectors kept faith in him for the change of format back to the ODIs and he’s repaid that faith in spades.
On Tuesday, Buttler played a crucial innings to help guide England to victory in a low-scoring twitcher of a game in Sharjah. England were wobbling like a jelly on a boat in rough seas at 93-4 chasing 209 for victory, with the Pakistani spinners extracting appreciable turn from a used pitch. After a frantic start, Buttler settled into an assured partnership with James Taylor and between them they guided England to victory that night by six wickets, Buttler finishing unbeaten on 49.
That knock was clearly the confidence boost Buttler needed as he let loose in the fourth and final ODI in spectacular fashion. He came to the crease as England lost two quick wickets, Jason Roy and Joe Root falling quick succession despite both being well set.
Following the online commentary, some were questioning why Buttler had been bumped up the order to four in the batting line-up ahead of the likes of Eoin Morgan and Taylor, two in-form batsmen. 46 balls later, they had their answer.
Only six innings in the history of ODI cricket have resulted in a batsman reaching three figures faster than Jos Buttler did. At the start of the year AB de Villiers of South Africa belted a demoralised West Indies attack around the park at Johannesburg to reach a ton in 31 balls, a mark that may well never be broken.
But that innings was in the crazy era of ridiculous field settings where only four men were allowed outside the circle in the final 10 overs. Bowlers were forced to telegraph to batsmen where they were going to sling the ball next by dint of their field placings and batsmen readied themselves to belt them in the opposite direction. Buttler’s knock came in a new era where some sense has been restored and bowlers can be more cunning regarding where they put the ball because they’re now back to five fielders being allowed outside the circle.
Buttler’s innings took a little while to get started, but all credit to the England management for recognising the perfect moment to allow their most destructive batsman to enter the fray. He came to the crease in the 36th over after Roy departed for his maiden ODI ton: a fine 102 in itself. His first nine balls yielded only five runs, but by allowing him a couple of overs to get his eye in, England reaped the dividends of a well-set Jos Buttler.
What followed was nothing short of brilliant. A further 95 runs were added in just 37 balls as he launched the Pakistani attack to all parts of the ground. His full innings spanned just 52 balls and he smashed his way to 116 not out, including eight sixes; a new England record. Such was the toll he took on the Pakistan bowling that the sequence of balls that took him past his ton went six, six, two, six. Talk about a way to get to three figures.
Buttler’s innings was, unsurprisingly, the fastest ODI ton by any Englishman ever. And whose record did he beat? You guessed it, his own. The previous best was a 61-ball effort against Sri Lanka at Lord’s in 2014 when he brought England within a squeak of pulling off a remarkable heist when they were all but dead and buried.
This time his efforts ensured that England set a target too imposing for an inconsistent Pakistani batting line-up. With 355 runs in the bank, England could afford to keep pressing for wickets, and that’s exactly what they did, wrapping up victory by 84 runs and securing a memorable 3-1 series victory.
Spare a thought for Jason Roy in all of this, who scored a fine maiden international ODI century, having survived a sticky period in his innings early on. But Roy’s knock was just the appetizer for the main course served up in spectacular fashion by the main man, Jos Buttler.
