JOS BUTTLER needed a six from the final ball of England’s innings to create history. Did he hit it? Of course he did.
A juicy full toss sailed into the night sky in Sharjah and landed in the stand beyond the mid-wicket boundary.
Buttler finished 101 not out and England reached 163-4 in their 20 overs. It was a total Sri Lanka rarely looked like overhauling.
Buttler became the first man to score centuries in all three formats for England – Tests, one-day internationals and T20s – and it was another brilliant innings.
Perhaps not quite as spectacular as the huge hits off Mitchell Starc and Co during his 71 not out against the Aussies on Saturday but, in many ways, this was even more admirable.
That innings was a blitzkrieg after England’s bowlers had virtually assured they would win. This time, Buttler had to set up England’s total after a sticky start.
England took 12 runs from the opening over but had inched their way to just 47-3 at the halfway juncture of their innings.
The pitch was slow and Sri Lanka’s spinners, in particular, were probing and posing problems.
FREE BETS: GET OVER £2,000 IN NEW CUSTOMER DEALS
Captain Eoin Morgan was so introspective that he scored just nine runs from his first 20 deliveries. Buttler was 24 off 30 at one stage.
But the pair pressed the accelerator so successfully that 116 runs and nine sixes came from the final ten overs.
Buttler became only the second England batsman after Alex Hales to score a T20 century in a World Cup.
England won their fourth successive match by 26 runs and we can assume they are now certain to qualify for the semi-finals. Their remaining group game is against South Africa on Saturday.
After chasing three times, it was reassuring to watch them win batting first.
But it looked dodgy after Jason Roy, Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow all fell cheaply.
Roy was bowled attempting a mighty slow-sweep against leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga and Malan was castled by seamer Dushmantha Chameera. Then Bairstow was lbw first ball to Hasaranga.
England were wearing scarlet trousers – rather than blue as in their first three games – to avoid a colour clash. And there was a danger of them being left red-faced.
Buttler changed all that as he found his range on the slow, low pitch and Sri Lanka’s bowlers suddenly started bowling too full.
His fifty arrived at the relatively sedate pace of 45 balls but then the assault really began.
Just look at the five-over splits of England’s innings: 1-5 overs – 34 runs, 6-10 – 13 runs, 11-15 – 58 overs, 16-20 – 58.
Morgan scratched around at the start of his knock and there was nothing to suggest his dreadful recent form was continuing. But he hung around and started to find the middle of his bat. He certainly nailed his three sixes.
FITTING FINALE
England assistant-coach Paul Collingwood said: “We’ve witnessed a very special T20 innings from Jos Buttler.
“If you look at the score after ten overs, we were in a bit of trouble there and the guys were relaying back to the dressing-room that 110 might be a decent total.”
Morgan and Buttler – immediately after their batting liaison – fashioned a run out from the third ball of Sri Lanka’s reply.
Adil Rashid took 2-19 from his four overs Sri Lanka lost too many wickets to mount a serious assault on their target.
And England suffered an injury worry when Tymal Mills pulled up trying to bowl the fourth ball of his second over. The medical bulletin was that he tweaked his right quad and will be assessed over the next 24 hours.
The loss of Mills upset England’s plans and meant Liam Livingstone had to bowl four overs of spin. But in the last over of those overs, Livingstone had Hasaranga caught on the boundary as Roy grabbed the ball on the run and passed it like a scrum-half it to sub fielder Sam Billings.
Then Buttler – who else? – ran out Sri Lanka’s last remaining dangerman Dasun Shanaka with a direct hit after gathering a loose ball behind the stumps.
