DUBAI : England captain Eoin Morgan considers Jos Buttler among a handful of players trying to change the game and marvelled at the batsman’s constant effort to improve after their crushing win over Australia in the Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday.
Buttler, considered one of England’s finest white-ball batters ever, enhanced his reputation with an unbeaten 71 off 32 balls to lead an eight-wicket rout of their Ashes rivals.
The wicketkeeper-batsman toyed with the Australian attack, smashing five sixes and an equal number of fours in his incendiary knock to put England on the brink of the semi-finals.
“I think he’s certainly one of our players, and there are a few of them, that are at the forefront of changing the game,” Morgan said after their third consecutive victory that came with 50 balls to spare.
“He’s one of the best players in the world but yet he’s still trying to improve his game and get better against every single bowler that he faces.
“When you’ve got guys that are at the forefront of change, like positive change, taking the game forward type stuff, it says a lot about the guy.”
Buttler’s whirlwind knock reminded Morgan of the 31-year-old’s 46-ball century against Pakistan at the same venue in a one-day match six years ago.
“There’s actually a game that we were talking about while he was going bananas out there,” he said.
“He’s obviously one of the best players in the world. And when he comes off like today, it’s very difficult to stop him.”
Australia captain Aaron Finch also doffed his hat at Buttler for the “hell of an innings”.
Moeen Ali has been England’s top powerplay bowler in the tournament but leg-spinner Adil Rashid was used in that role against the Australians.
“The matchups at that time didn’t suit. They do suit for some of the Australian players but they were already dismissed,” Morgan said.
“I thought that worked really well. Moeen is quite a relaxed guy and knows the role that he plays. Both before the game and during the game, that’s always communicated across all of the bowling unit.”
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in Dubai; editing by Ed Osmond)
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