T20 World Cup: Blazing half-century from Jos Buttler helps England thrash Australia by 8 wickets

Wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler made his presence felt with a fantastic performance, to help England thrash Australia by 8 wickets in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 encounter between the teams. Buttler smashed 71 runs off 32 deliveries, in an innings comprising of five boundaries and sixes apiece. The cricketer’s knock helped England chase down a target of 126 runs in 11.4 overs, getting the job done and dusted in an astute manner. Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa were the bowlers who accounted for the dismissals, chipping in with a wicket apiece. The triumph marked the 14th win for the chasing team in the last 15 T20 matches in Dubai.

“It was a great bowling effort from the boys. Woakesy set up the tone. We try to keep it as simple as possible. We try and asses the pitch quickly. We tried to hold our lengths and bowl it straight and luckily it worked today. You just try to stick your strengths and then still add a little bit to your skills. You are never comfortable in international ticket. Everyday you want to improve as there are so many players who want to get into the team,” said Chris Jordan as quoted by Cricbuzz.

England dominate Australia to keep them to 125

England bowled Australia out for 125, with Jordan the pick of the bowlers, accounting for three dismissals. Chris Woakes and Tymal Mills further made their presence felt, chipping in with two wickets apiece. Adil Rashid and Liam Livingstone also accounted for a dismissal apiece. Skipper Aaron Finch was the top run-getter, accumulating 44 runs off 49 deliveries. Finch’s knock comprised of four boundaries. Ashton Agar was the second highest run-scorer, scoring 20 runs from as many deliveries. Wicketkeeper Matthew Wade was the third highest run-getter, accumulating 18 runs off the same number of balls.

“Looks like a really good wicket, doesn’t change throughout”

Finch admitted that he would have opted to field after winning the toss, after being sent in to bat by England skipper Eoin Morgan.

“We would have done the same. Looks like a really good wicket, doesn’t change throughout. The trend has been batting second but we can put a big score on the board and defend it later on. One change. Ashton Agar comes in for Mitch Marsh. Just a bit of a restructure there. Going with the five specialist bowlers, nothing more to it than that. There was real confidence in the side the other night which was nice. We’ve kept getting better and better. Hopefully that can continue tonight. He (Warner) is a great player, been a great player for over 10 years, you can’t keep him down for too long,” stated the Australia cricketer as quoted by Cricbuzz.

Lineups:

Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Aaron Finch(c), Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade(w), Pat Cummins, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood.

England (Playing XI): Jason Roy, Jos Buttler(w), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan(c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid, Tymal Mills.