CRICKET: Buttler puts England into next round

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The butler has complied. Jos Buttler, England’s lanky goalkeeper lit up the skies over Sharjah with a glorious century against Sri Lanka to effectively guide England into the next round of the Twenty20 World Cup.

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It was the first century of this tournament and he brought it up in great style by breaking a six on the final installment to 101st when England reached 163 for four after battling 35 for three in one stage. Buttler’s superb 67-ball shot included six limits and six huge six and, along with captain Eoin Morgan (40), he starred in a 112-run grandstand as England clinched a 26-run victory. England bowlers led by astute Adil Rashid (two for 19) sent Sri Lanka off by 137 in 19 overs.

The England starter has enjoyed a great batting career in the heat and humidity of the United Arab Republic as he landed an undefeated 71 against Australia and that has lifted him to the top with 214 runs. Hitting three figures, Buttler scored a trifecta by becoming the first Englishman to reach three figures in Test, one-day and Twenty20 cricket.

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“It’s a good statistic,” Buttler said. “I don’t really play by the stats, but I’m excited about my hitting and the rest of the tournament,” Buttler told Sky Sports.

“I remember saying a while ago that if I could put both parts of my game together, from the opening to the middle order, then I would be in a really good place with my T20 hitting.”

And Morgan, who saw Buttler’s assault on Sri Lanka in midfield, called Buttler’s strike “one of the best in his history with the England jersey. It was amazing to be on the other end and to see the ebb and flow and then the sheer domination at the end. He’s one of the best in the game and it’s a privilege to play alongside him and have him on our team, ”Morgan said.

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ROLL PROTEAS
This is possibly the first time in more than two decades that South Africa has entered a World Cup tournament without being a favorite. The pressure of wearing that tag was obviously too heavy to bear and the mighty South Africans always fell in the knockout stages and earned the choker tag.

Now without superstars AB de Villiers and Faf Du Plessis, this new Proteas has won two of his three matches in the Super 12 stage of the competition and it should be three when he takes on the bottom-of-the-table Bangladesh in Abu Dhabi. . on Tuesday.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, have lost all three of their Group 1 matches and any hopes they had of pulling off a surprise on Tuesday all but disappeared after their star off-roader Shakib Al Hassan was ruled out of the rest of the tournament. The best all-rounder in the T201 ranking suffered the injury in the loss to the West Indies on Friday.

The Proteas lost their first game against Australia by five wickets, but recovered excellently to win the next two.

The Proteas will have Quinton de Kock behind the stumps after he withdrew from the West Indies game after refusing to kneel.

In the second match on Tuesday, Pakistan faces Namibia.

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