Jos the Boss!

By Disha Mashelkar

Article No: 09

England’s astonishing performance in the first ODI at Birmingham flattened the mighty experienced side of New Zealand at 198 all out.  New Zealand who could not even complete the 50 over match (31.1 over)failed miserably to put up a good show. Except for Ross Taylor (57 runs) and Kane Williamson (45 runs), the Black Caps struggled to defend a gigantic score of 408 runs on board.

England’s handsome and brilliant wicketkeeper-batsman Joseph Charles Buttler was one of the key players in England’s win. He astonished New Zealand’s bowler with his incandescent knock of 129 runs which came out of only 77 balls. His ton comprised of 13 fours and five elongated sixes! The others who significantly contributed to the victory of England were Joe Root (104 runs), Steven Finn (4-35) and Adil Rashid (4-55). Buttler's  partenership of 177 runs with Adil Rashid (69) was also a new seventh-wicket record in all one-day internationals. The previous record was of 130 shared by Zimbabwe's Andy Flower and Heath Streak against England in Harare in 2001.

After the first ODI, Jos Buttler has emerged as a powerful batsman for England as he is the second England’s batsman to score the fastest ODI century (He also hold the record of being the first with 61 balls). He had made his ODI debut against Pakistan in 2012 but he only came to lime light in 2014, after Matt Prior stood down due to an injury in a test match against India. His 85 runs from 83 balls helped England to win the match and level the series against India. In the next match he had scored 70 runs, where again England won and took a series lead by 2-1. The final test match was again won by England in which Jos had contributed 45 runs and took 11 catches in the series.

Joseph Buttler after scoring his fastest century against New Zealand

Jos Buttler was denied the opportunity to play many a times in spite of being in the 15 member announced team. But this time, he has turned the opportunity into gold with his display of excellent batting and wicket-keeping. He holds a very strong domestic record to his profile.This 24 year old England wicket-keeper batsman has surely embarked a new high in his career. New Zealand’s team will now have to boost their practice and come out stronger. The next ODI match will be played at Oval on 12 June.