After a tame IPL by his own standards, Jos Buttler has lit up The Hundred. With 142 runs striking at 163, Buttler’s average of 71 reflects the supreme start to the competition he has enjoyed. When watching him at full flow it can all seem rather automatic, see ball hit ball. But underneath the ice cool demeanour sit a number of factors that make Buttler the best.
Picking His Targets
If you’ve seen a Buttler innings last more than 6 balls, then you’ve probably heard the commentary team dub him a ‘360 degree player’. A cliché yes, but a truth also. A clear advantage Buttler has is his ability to score wherever he needs to. Instead of relying on a range of shots to apply no matter the conditions, Buttler can read a situation and pick the right shots accordingly.
Take his contrasting knocks against London Spirit and Birmingham Phoenix. In the former, he took to playing straight shots, skipping down to the spinner to launch them back over their head. Last night, on a trickier surface, Buttler brought out the reverse sweep to Shadab Khan. Wary of losing the flight of the ball he instead hung back and scored behind square of the wicket. To be the best you have to be versatile, no matter the conditions you can back Buttler to score.
It’s not just scoring areas where Jos Buttler can switch up his game, a hallmark of his gargantuan 2022 IPL season was his ability to sniff out the weak link in a bowling attack and make them pay. Many white ball openers take a fairly indiscriminate approach to their level of attack, looking to impose themselves from the off. Where Buttler stands out is his ability to sense which bowlers to afford a bit more caution, and which to go in for the kill against.
Such a tactic is particularly effective in T20 leagues where the reality of selection rules mean that there will be a fifth and often slightly weaker bowling option. If your team is facing Buttler and he seems to be having a quiet day, maybe keep your optimism low until the fifth bowler comes on.
Pace Master
What this creates is an unparalleled ability to properly pace a T20 innings. Many openers are here for a good time not a long time, Jos Buttler keeps festivities going before ending proceedings with a grand finale.
The concept of an ‘anchor’ is a controversial one in T20 cricket. Some argue that a team needs a safe pair of hands to hang around the crease just in case, whilst I’m more inclined to say that a slow batter in a T20 innings can massively hamper the ability to set and chase high scores. In his current iteration Jos Buttler has modernised the concept of the anchor, demonstrating an ability to bat for the majority of an innings but also doing so at a high rate of scoring.
Where the magic happens is what happens when Buttler is still at the crease of the end of an innings. At the toss Moeen Ali said his main plan was ‘Get Jos out early’, the reason being that Buttler’s record in the death overs is utterly explosive.
In IPL 2021 he struck at 300 during the death overs, falling to a humble 250 in 2022. In essence this means that if you’re bowling to him, factor in an extra couple of minutes of rest as you go fish the ball out of the stands. Jos Buttler starts an innings quickly, he keeps the score going, then he finishes the job.
Power Player
Underneath all of these more cerebral elements exists a final factor, Jos Buttler hits the ball as hard as anyone in the world. Amidst a poor IPL season, Buttler registered one of the biggest sixes in the tournament at a whopping 112 metres. Whilst it might be the deft touch of the ramp shot that garners the attention, it’s well worth paying attention to the force that Buttler generates when he hits down the ground and over mid-wicket.
A fascinating aspect of Buttler’s game is the way that he adjusts his stance depending on his level of aggression. To start a match he often makes a relatively small back and across movement. As the match develops this will become more pronounced. When looking to hit every ball to the boundary, Buttler’s trigger movement changes and becomes more exaggerated. He steps across the stumps and opens up his legs and body into something more akin to a baseball style. The result is a further increased ability to swing through the ball and hit a six.
When you combine power, pace, and purpose you get one of the greatest white ball players ever. More accurately you get Jos Buttler.
