Jos Buttler
Joseph Charles Buttler is an English international cricketer and former captain of the national team. He plays for Lancashire in domestic cricket and played in multiple T20 leagues. He is known for his innovative and aggressive batting style. He was part of the England team that won the 2019 ODI World Cup and led the team to victory at the 2022 T20 World Cup.
Buttler made his T20I debut in 2011, his ODI debut in 2012, and his Test debut in 2014. He was the vice-captain and a crucial member of the England team that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup, and made the run out during the Super Over which sealed victory in the final. He was appointed captain of England's limited-overs teams in June 2022. He captained England to victory at the 2022 T20 World Cup, top-scoring for England at the tournament.
Buttler plays as a right-handed wicket-keeper-batsman. He is often regarded as England's greatest white-ball player in the history of the sport. He is England's most-capped T20I player. Along with Adil Rashid, he holds the world record for highest seventh-wicket stand in ODIs: 177 against New Zealand during their 2015 tour of England. He is England's highest run-scorer in T20Is, and is one of only five Englishmen to score a T20I century. As a wicket-keeper, he holds the England record for most dismissals in both ODI and T20I formats.
Early life
Born in Taunton, Somerset, on 8 September 1990, Buttler was educated at King's College, Taunton, where he displayed his early talent in cricket.Domestic career
Youth
Buttler played extensively for Somerset's youth teams, appearing at Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17 level. He made his senior club cricket debut for Cheddar before moving to Glastonbury in the 2006 season, aged just 15, taking three catches and 15 runs as wicket-keeper. Later in the same season, he made his first appearance for Somerset Second XI, scoring 71 in the second-innings, and taking six catches in the three-day match against Nottinghamshire Second XI. Playing for King's College, he finished the 2006 season with the school's leading batting average, scoring 447 runs at an average of 49.66. The following season he played regularly for Glastonbury in the West of England Premier League, and for Somerset Under-17s, for whom he scored two centuries; an unbeaten 119 during a two-day match against Surrey Under-17s, and 110 against Sussex Under-17s. He once again led the batting averages for King's College, with his 358 runs coming at 51.14.The highlight of his school career came in April 2008, when he scored 227 not out during a record-breaking opening stand in a 50-over national schools game, adding 340 with Alex Barrow. He captained King's during the 2008 season, and improved on his batting totals from the previous two years, scoring 851 runs, over 250 more than any other member of the team. His batting average of 94.55 was the sixth highest amongst all school's batsmen reported in Wisden, while his high-score of 227* was the highest score they recorded. During that 2008 season, Buttler also played for Somerset Second XI. With captain Carl Gazzard keeping wicket in the majority of these matches, Buttler played purely as a batsman, although in his final match of the season for the team, he kept wicket and took six catches in the first-innings against Worcestershire Second XI. In the previous match, against Hampshire Second XI, Buttler had made 140 batting from number four.
He made his first-class debut for Somerset in September 2009, replacing the injured Justin Langer for the County Championship match against Lancashire, scoring 30 in his only innings. He retained his place in the team for the following Pro40 match against Hampshire, making his List A debut, although he was not required to bat. Selected as part of the Somerset squad for the 2009 Champions League Twenty20, Buttler made his debut in the 20-over format of the game in Somerset's final match of the league stage, remaining six not out at the close of the innings. Buttler again captained King's in 2009, and in the seventeen matches under his leadership they lost only once, and also won the Western School Twenty20 competition. Coupled with his 554 runs for the school at an average of 61.55, and his performances for Somerset, he was named 2010 Young Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year.
First-team opportunity
When Craig Kieswetter was called up to the England one-day team in 2010, Buttler was given the chance of a prolonged run in Somerset's first team. Brian Rose, Somerset's Director of Cricket, chose not to bring in an experienced keeper to deputise, explaining that Kieswetter had been in a similar position three years earlier and that he had good reports of Buttler's ability. In his first match of the 2010 season, Buttler remained 22 not out at the close of Somerset's innings, posting his first runs in List A cricket, and he followed this up with two catches to help Somerset beat Glamorgan in their opening Clydesdale Bank 40 fixture.He made his maiden first-class century in his fourth County Championship match, scoring 144 runs in an innings characterised by "dogged determination and decent range of shots". In his next match, he scored his debut List A half-century against Sussex. Buttler joined James Hildreth at the crease with Somerset at 109/4, requiring 183 more runs to win off 129 balls. The pair put on a partnership of 158 runs "to turn the game on its head", with Buttler making 69 in 53 balls. In doing so, they set a new record partnership for the fifth-wicket against Sussex. His continued good batting form, which also saw him make scores of 52 and 31* in a County Championship match against Yorkshire, saw him retain his place in the Somerset team upon Kieswetter's return.
Buttler was named Man of the Match in Somerset's 2010 Friends Provident T20 semi-final victory over Nottinghamshire at the Rose Bowl, reaching a "breathtaking" half-century from 21 balls to score an unbeaten 55 runs in a partnership of 75 with Kieron Pollard. His aggressive batting won him many plaudits and helped Somerset reach the final of the 2010 Clydesdale Bank 40 as well as the Twenty20 cup.
His good form with the bat continued into 2011 as Somerset again reached the final of both the T20 and 40 over competitions, with Buttler top-scoring with a "mature" 86 runs from 72 balls in the 40 over final. In both 2010 and 2011 he was awarded the NBC Denis Compton Award as Somerset's most promising young player and made his full England debut at the end of the season.
The 2012 season proved similarly productive for Buttler, and featured a "brilliant" half-century scored from 36 balls against Northamptonshire in the domestic 40 over competition, although increasing international call-ups limited his appearances for Somerset and Kieswetter remained the first-choice wicket-keeper for Somerset. The second County Championship match of the 2013 season saw Buttler score 94 runs playing as a specialist batsman and an injury to Kieswetter at the end of April provided an opportunity for Buttler to claim his place as wicket-keeper in the team. Somerset started the County Championship season poorly, but Buttler was praised for adopting a mature approach to his batting, averaging over 40 with the bat in the Championship at the midpoint of the season and enjoying his most productive first-class season to date. After missing county matches again due to international call-ups, Buttler saw Kieswetter return as wicket-keeper in some T20 county matches and began to publicly question his future at the club if he was not to keep wicket regularly for the one-day team. He delayed signing a new contract he had been offered, concerned that by not being the main wicket-keeper for Somerset that he would put his international wicket-keeping place in jeopardy, despite a strong emotional attachment to the county. Despite Somerset's desire to keep Buttler at the club, they were unable to reach an agreement which satisfied Buttler's desire to keep wicket, and at the end of the season he announced that he would be leaving Somerset with the aim of securing his international place and breaking into the England Test team.
Move to Lancashire
At the end of September 2013, Lancashire announced they had signed Buttler. He scored 42 in his first Championship appearance for the county before compiling a "game-changing" innings of 72 on a difficult pitch at Northampton. This showcased Buttler's first-class batting potential and contributed to a record seventh wicket partnership for Lancashire against Northants. He scored his first century for Lancashire in June against Durham before equalling the record for the fastest fifty scored in T20 cricket, hitting a half-century in 22 balls against Northants on his way to 58 not out in the 2014 NatWest T20 Blast. Lancashire finished runners-up of the T20 competition, losing to Warwickshire in the final. He played 10 first-class matches for Lancashire during the season and was called into the England Test team as wicket-keeper in July, replacing the injured Matt Prior, although doubts remained about the quality of his wicket-keeping.He extended his stay with Lancashire, announcing a new three-year contract on 27 May 2016.
England career
2008–10: England youth career
Buttler's first taste of international cricket came in July 2008, when he represented England Under-17s in two warm-up matches against New Zealand Under-19s. Batting at number five, he scored a rapid 77 not out in the 50-over contest, hitting 11 fours and two sixes during the 49 deliveries he faced. He also played in the two-day match between the two teams, scoring 45 in the first-innings as the match was drawn.In 2009, Buttler played four matches for England Under-18s, two each against Scotland A and Scotland Development XI. He scored 103 not out in the first of these matches, and made starts in each of the following matches, reaching double figures on each occasion, but not scoring higher than 28. Two months later, Buttler made his England Under-19 debut, appearing in the first T20 against Bangladesh Under-19s. Playing as a specialist batsman, he scored 33 runs off 17 balls as England won by five wickets.
During the 2009–10 English winter, Buttler toured with the England Under-19 team. He joined up with the squad in Bangladesh following Somerset's elimination from the Champions League Twenty20 for the seven-match youth One Day International series, playing again as a specialist batsman. He failed to make a significant impact until the final match when he top-scored for England with 42 runs. He remained with the team for the Under-19 World Cup, where he played all but one of England's six matches, keeping wicket in three of them. He scored 91 runs in three innings, with a top-score of 78 against India in the fifth-place play-off semi-final. His batting average of 30.33 ranked him fifth on the England team.