Australia spinner Ashton Agar on Monday termed Jos Buttler as England’s current best white-ball player. His remark came as Jos Buttler played an unbeaten knock of 77 runs off just 54 balls to guide England to a six-wicket win in the second T20I of the three-match series. With this win, England wrapped up the three-match series as the side now has an unassailable 2-0 lead.
Ashton Agar who debuted in 2013 has played in only 4 Tests,13 ODIs and 26 T20Is where he has picked up 9,10 and 29 wickets respectively averaging on the higher side except T20I where he averages only 20.37. On February 2020, in the T20I match against South Africa, Ashton Agar became the second bowler for Australia, and 13th overall, to take a hat-trick in a T20I match.
He finished the match with figures of 5/24 from his four overs, his first five-wicket haul in a T20I match. In April 2020, Cricket Australia awarded Agar with a central contract ahead of the 2020–21 season.
Jos Buttler Is An Incredible Player: Ashton Agar
Jos Buttler has featured in 142 ODIs where he scored 3843 runs averaging 40.88 with 9 hundreds to his name. Jos Buttler holds the record for the fastest ODI century by an England player and is regarded as one of the best wicket-keeper batsmen in the world.
“Buttler is an incredible player, he can hit all around the ground, he is difficult to bowl to, he finishes the games off, he is often there at the end taking England over the line, hats off to him, he is an incredible player. He is probably their best white-ball player currently,” Agar said in a virtual press conference on Monday.
His ability to recognize and manipulate field placements of opposing teams and score all around the ground has seen him labelled as a “360-degree” cricketer like South Africa’s AB De Villiers.
When asked how difficult it is to bowl to Buttler, Agar replied: “It is tough, we know he is a gun player, there is no question about that, however, your belief in yourself can be your biggest asset or weakness. If you are at the top of your mark thinking how am I going to bowl to this bloke, then you are already making the job hard for yourself. Sometimes guys play really well and you need to appreciate them.”
Jos Buttler is yet to produce big runs in T20I cricket but has scored 1455 runs in 71 T20Is at a modest average of 28.44 with the best score of unbeaten 77. He is though on great form with scores of 152 against Pakistan in the third and final test and scores of 44 and 77 not out in the first 2 T20Is against Australia.
Jos Buttler Will Miss The 3rd T20I
Jos Buttler will be missing the upcoming third T20I against Australia as he has left the bio-secure bubble in Southampton, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced earlier.
Talking about Buttler’s absence from the final match of the series, Agar said: “England have a deep squad and whoever comes into their squad will be very good. We need to be up to our game.”
Australia have already lost the three-match T20I series against England after coming up second best in the first two matches. The third and final T20I of the three-match series will be played on Tuesday, September 8 at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.