England’s Jos Buttler in action. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
England captain Jos Buttler claimed the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award for November after being at his remarkable best with the bat in his side’s charge to the T20I World Cup triumph in Australia last month.
England’s triumphant skipper Buttler once again underlined his reputation as one of the most fearsome batters in world cricket last month. The month of November started with a Player of the Match performance in the dramatic 20-run victory over New Zealand in Brisbane. Making his 100th T20I appearance, the opener smashed 73 from 47 balls to provide some much-needed momentum to England’s campaign.
After England had secured their passage to the knockout stages, he followed this display with arguably his highlight of the tournament. Chasing 169 for victory in the semi-final against India, he demonstrated the full array of his strokeplay in smashing 80 from 49 balls. His record-breaking opening partnership of 170 with Alex Hales saw them claim a historic ten-wicket win in Adelaide.
Even though his scoring in the Final was somewhat quiet by his standards, Buttler registered a valuable 26 runs against a menacing Pakistan bowling attack. He then led the efforts in the field with his expert captaincy, forcing Pakistan to fall short, and claiming England’s second ever T20 World Cup trophy.Buttler claims the award from a field which also contained teammate and fellow World Cup winner Adil Rashid, and Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, both of whom played significant roles with the ball, guiding their sides all the way to the showpiece finale of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia.
“I want to thank the fans for voting for me as the ICC Player of the Month for November. This award is down to the efforts of my teammates in what was the most incredible month of cricket, culminating in winning the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia,” reacting to his ICC Men’s Player of the Month prize, Buttler commented in an official statement released by ICC. “It is right up there amongst the best months of cricket I’ve been involved in, and it was pretty special to lead a group of players to the ultimate accolade of becoming world champions,” he further added.