Bridgetown (Barbados), June 24 (IANS) England captain Jos Buttler clicked at the right time with an unbeaten 83 off 38 balls against the USA to guide his side to a thumping 10-wicket win in the Super Eight match of the T20 World Cup and also sealing a semifinal spot.
Buttler smashed his maiden half-century in the ongoing tournament studded with seven maximums and six boundaries. Commenting on his batting form, wicketkeeper-said he has been in touch and wanted to contribute to the team as a batter.
“I have been feeling good all year to be honest. I feel I’m hitting the ball well and it’s on me to look after my own game, as much as I’m the captain, I’m one of the 11 and I have got to do my job,” Buttler said in the post-match presentation on Sunday.
It was England’s first match against the USA, who defeated Pakistan in the group stage to qualify for the Super Eight. Buttler said they respected the opponent and gave their best performance on the field. He further credited Adil Rashid, Liam Livingstone and hat-trick boy Chris Jordan for their spirited effort in the bowling.
“We give USA a lot of respect and we talked about if, if we brought our intensity, we would be too good. Once we got in a few overs, we tried to target this side with the wind. Adil was fantastic and Livi bowled brilliantly in tandem, it’s difficult when you are not bowling in one game and then suddenly you bowl 4 overs, credit to him for being ready,” the wicketkeeper-batter said.
England made one change on their playing 11 as they brought in Jordan in place of Mark Wood. The move paid a heavy dividend to the side as Jordan became the first England bowler to clinch a hat-trick in the T20 World Cup.
“We have great options, today we wanted to bring in CJ to bring depth to our batting and a World Cup hat-trick is a great effort,” Buttler added.
England and South Africa have qualified for the semis from Group 2. Proteas beat West Indies by three wickets via DLS method to stay unbeaten in the tournament and seal the last four berth.
–IANS
ab/bc
