It’s right up there: Buttler on his milestone century against Sri Lanka

PTI, Nov 2, 2021, 10:42 AM IST

Achieving two personal milestones in a single game is something special and Jos Buttler rates his magnificent century knock against Sri Lanka in the ongoing T20 World Cup as one of his all-time best performance in English colours.

On Monday night, Buttler (101 not out off 67 balls) smashed his maiden T20 ton to power England to a 26-win over Sri Lanka and in the process also became the first Englishman to score an international century in all three formats of the game.

”Yeah, right up there,” said Buttler at the post match conference when asked whether he rates the innings as on 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.” The 31-year-old stumper said the ton holds more significance in the team’s context but at the same time it was great to achieve personal milestones.

”Yeah, it’s great. It’s probably something I’ll look back on at some point, and it’s a nice accolade to have,” said Buttler on becoming the first English batter to score a century in all formats of the game.

”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.” For Buttler, the win against Sri Lanka was special as it came under difficult conditions and circumstances. ”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 and skipper Eoin Morgan (40 off 36 balls) shared 112 runs for the fourth wicket to lay the foundation for a challenging 163 for 4. ”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,” he said.

Talking about the final ball six to bring up his century, Buttler said: ”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.” 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.”