Dubai, November 01, 2021 (PPI-OT):England had to do what they hadn’t done so far in this tournament, bat first. They would also become only the second team to win whilst defending a total in the evening match.
They had to do so in dewy conditions in Sharjah and from 35 for three in the powerplay but England still managed to beat Sri Lanka, thanks to Jos Buttler.
Wicketkeeper-batter Buttler had already dominated Australia and now it was the Lions’ turn for a mauling.
Unlike the Australia game where the 31-year-old crashed 71 off 32 balls as England chased down 126 with eight overs and eight wickets to spare, Buttler was made to sweat for his maiden T20I hundred.
With Jonny Bairstow falling for a golden duck to leave England in an unfamiliar position of having lost three wickets in the powerplay, Buttler and Eoin Morgan went about resetting.
Buttler made only 24 off his first 30 balls but, as the innings passed the halfway mark, he began to find his groove. His 50 came off 45 balls, the slowest of his 16 T20I half-centuries and from there he didn’t look back.
He and Morgan dispatched Lahiru Kumara for 22 runs off the next over, Buttler crashing two sixes including one that sailed 88 metres.
In the blink of an eye, Buttler was at 81, the highest individual score of the tournament so far, and two runs later he had his highest score in T20 internationals.
And he did it in his own way, taking just 11 runs from 22 spin deliveries while crunching 75 runs off 37 balls from the seamers.
It all came down to the final over, with Morgan gone for 40 in the 19th and England at a respectable total, it was all about whether Buttler could score the 13 he needed for a maiden T20I ton.
Moeen Ali was a willing runner at the non-striker’s end but still, with one ball left, Buttler needed a maximum.
Having hit five sixes already in the innings, none would come as easy but be so well deserved as the last one.
Dushmantha Chameera sent down a leg-side full toss and Buttler gleefully smashed it into the stands to become the first England men’s cricketer to register a century in all three formats of the game – only Heather Knight had previously achieved the feat for England.
He ended his side’s innings 101 not out from 67 balls, his final 70 runs coming from just 37 deliveries.
And he wasn’t done, just three balls into Sri Lanka’s innings Buttler ran out Pathum Nissanka as Sri Lanka too struggled in the powerplay.
They were able to rebuild through Wanindu Hasaranga and Dasun Shanaka and, with the match on a knife-edge, Buttler was there again to swing the game firmly in England’s favour.
Sprinting to his right and throwing his keeping glove to the ground, Buttler threw the ball to the stumps for a direct hit, to remove Shanaka who wasn’t even in shot as the bails flew off.
From there Sri Lanka lost their final three wickets for seven runs as England won by 26 runs and moved to the brink of the semi-finals, but without Jos Buttler, things might not have looked so rosy.
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