Jos Buttler is generally one of those players who are renowned for aggressive batting and not so much for the grind and the graft, but the England wicketkeeper showed the other side of his game earlier today on the 5th day of the second Ashes test match against Australia.
Coming into the final day of the game, England didn’t really have any chance of chasing the target down, but there was a slight chance of them being able to bat out the entire day and draw the game, because the surface wasn’t really playing too many tricks. It was still quite a flat surface and if anything, it had lost its sting as the game went on.
Survival wasn’t really a massive challenge on the 5th day Adelaide surface, but to do so against the quality Australian bowlers, proper application was required and Jos Buttler did apply himself for a considerable length of time.
Buttler had a brief partnership with Ben Stokes and then he stuck it out with Chris Woakes for round about a session as well. Even when Australia managed to get rid of Woakes, it didn’t seem as if anything was fazing Buttler at all, but after playing more than 200 balls to score just 26, the right hander eventually got dismissed in a very, very unsual manner.
While trying to punch a back of length delivery off the backfoot, Buttler stepped onto the stumps and the bails came off. Because of the fact that Jhye Richardson was getting a little bit of movement, Buttler didn’t want to commit himself onto the front foot too much and was deep inside his crease, but while trying to go further back, he didn’t realise that he would step onto the stumps.
Buttler, initially after playing the shot, was getting off for a single when he saw the Australian fielders celebrating and then got to know that he had stepped onto his stumps. It was a very disappointing end to a really grafty innings, which was played against his instincts by Buttler.
What a way to end an epic innings! 😲
That's the first time Buttler has been dismissed hit wicket in his 193-innings first class career #Ashes pic.twitter.com/nRP09djjay
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 20, 2021
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Jos Buttler has been under pressure in test match cricket lately
It was a very important knock for Jos Buttler personally as well, because he has been under a bit of pressure in test match cricker lately. He couldn’t score a lot in the test series against India at home and in the first two Ashes test matches, he has failed to get a big score to his name again.
However, Buttler’s 4th innings effort in Adelaide today would surely get him another couple of games in the ongoing Ashes, before the England management reconsiders his spot in the playing XI.
