'Jos Buttler is one of the most destructive players in the game'
Buttler hits 66 off 37 balls as England beat Sri Lanka
Tuesday 29 March 2016 14:39, UK
Michael Atherton labelled Jos Buttler 'one of the most destructive players in the game' after he helped England beat Sri Lanka by 10 runs and book a semi-final spot in the 2016 World T20.
Buttler smashed an unbeaten 66 off 37 balls as England posted 171-4, before Sri Lanka pushed them close at 161-8 - Angelo Mathews hitting 73 not out off 54 balls - having been 15-4 at one stage.
"When Buttler is in at the end of the innings, in for the last five or six overs of an innings, he is unstoppable. No matter who is bowling at him, he is a real threat," said Atherton.
"He is one of the most destructive players in the game, and it's a long time since England could say they've got one of those.
"We have seen him do it time and time again in domestic cricket, and he is now really showing international cricket what he is capable of.
"Particularly India, where he is now set to spend a bit of time, with the Indian Premier League coming up after this tournament, playing for the Mumbai Indians.
"It was a brilliant game of cricket, requiring two excellent overs at the death from Chris Jordan and Ben Stokes to get England over the line.
"Full credit to Sri Lanka, as they were gone when they lost those four wickets in the opening powerplay, but Mathews started to turn things around and who would have thought it would get as close as it did.
"England are now likely to play New Zealand in their semi-final, at Delhi for the third time in a row, and they have had a lot of luck with the venues they've played at so far - Mumbai and Delhi - with three out of the four pitches very suited to them.
"New Zealand have played here, there and everywhere so far, but haven't played at Delhi yet, and if the pitch is like this one, it definitely gives England a better chance than if the pitch is a real turner, the kind of surfaces on which New Zealand have played really well so far."
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Buttler was delighted to get a score and help England progress in the tournament although hailed the contribution of team-mate Stokes in such a tight game.
"I felt like I played well to get us up to a good score, but it looked like Mathews was chasing it down," said Buttler.
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"It turned out to be a fantastic game and I'm just please to get out of it on the right side. We needed Stokes to hit our last ball for six, and we needed him also to bowl a fantastic over at the death.
"Those things are the turning points in T20 cricket. When we had them four down early we were expecting the game to be more comfortable than that, but we got there."
