Jos Buttler
Joseph Charles Buttler MBE (born 8 September 1990), known as Jos Buttler, an English international cricketer and former captain of the national team. He plays for Lancashire in domestic cricket and played in multiple T20 leagues. He is known for his innovative and aggressive batting style. He was part of the England team that won the 2019 ODI World Cup and led the team to victory at the 2022 T20 World Cup.
Jos Buttler made his T20I debut in 2011, his ODI debut in 2012, and his Test debut in 2014. He was the vice-captain and a crucial member of the England team that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup, and made the run out during the Super Over which sealed victory in the final.[1] He was appointed captain of England’s limited-overs teams in June 2022.[2] He captained England to victory at the 2022 T20 World Cup, top-scoring for England at the tournament.[3]
Early life
Jos Buttler, born in Taunton, Somerset, on 8 September 1990,[10] Buttler was educated at King’s College, Taunton, where he displayed his early talent in cricket.[11]
Domestic career
Youth
Jos Buttler played extensively for Somerset’s youth teams, appearing at Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17 level.He made his senior club cricket debut for Cheddar before moving to Glastonbury in the 2006 season, aged just 15, taking three catches and 15 runs as wicket-keeper.
Later in the same season, he made his first appearance for Somerset Second XI, scoring 71 in the second-innings, and taking six catches in the three-day match against Nottinghamshire Second XI. Playing for King’s College, he finished the 2006 season with the school’s leading batting average, scoring 447 runs at an average of 49.66.
The following season he played regularly for Glastonbury in the West of England Premier League, and for Somerset Under-17s, for whom he scored two centuries; an unbeaten 119 during a two-day match against Surrey Under-17s, and 110 against Sussex Under-17s.He once again led the batting averages for King’s College, with his 358 runs coming at 51.14.
The highlight of his school career came in April 2008, when he scored 227 not out during a record-breaking opening stand in a 50-over national schools game, adding 340 with Alex Barrow. He captained King’s during the 2008 season and improved on his batting totals from the previous two years, scoring 851 runs, over 250 more than any other member of the team.
Jos Buttler’s batting average of 94.55 ranked sixth amongst all school’s batsmen reported in Wisden, while his high-score of 227* was the highest score they recorded. During that 2008 season, Buttler also played for Somerset Second XI. With captain Carl Gazzard keeping wicket in the majority of these matches, Buttler played purely as a batsman, although in his final match of the season for the team, he kept wicket and took six catches in the first-innings against Worcestershire Second XI. In the previous match, against Hampshire Second XI, Buttler had made 140 batting from number four.
He made his first-class debut for Somerset in September 2009, replacing the injured Justin Langer for the County Championship match against Lancashire, scoring 30 in his only innings.[24] He retained his place in the team for the following Pro40 match against Hampshire, making his List A debut, although he was not required to bat.
Selected as part of the Somerset squad for the 2009 Champions League Twenty20, Buttler made his debut in the 20-over format of the game in Somerset’s final match of the league stage, remaining six not out at the close of the innings. Buttler again captained King’s in 2009, and in the seventeen matches under his leadership they lost only once, and also won the Western School Twenty20 competition. Coupled with his 554 runs for the school at an average of 61.55, and his performances for Somerset, he was named 2010 Young Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year.
First-team opportunity
When Craig Kieswetter was called up to the England one-day side in 2010, Jos Buttler was given the chance of a prolonged run in Somerset’s first team. Brian Rose, Somerset’s Director of Cricket, chose not to bring in an experienced keeper to deputise, explaining that Kieswetter had been in a similar position three years earlier and that he had good reports of Jos Buttler ability.
In his first match of the 2010 season, Buttler remained 22 not out at the close of Somerset’s innings, posting his first runs in List A cricket, and he followed this up with two catches to help Somerset beat Glamorgan in their opening Clydesdale Bank 40 fixture.
He made his maiden first-class century in his fourth County Championship match, scoring 144 runs in an innings characterised by “dogged determination and decent range of shots.”
In his next match, he scored his debut List A half-century against Sussex. Jos Buttler joined James Hildreth at the crease with Somerset at 109/4, requiring 183 more runs to win off 129 balls.
The pair put on a partnership of 158 runs “to turn the game on its head”, with Jos Buttler making 69 in 53 balls. In doing so, they set a new record partnership for the fifth-wicket against Sussex. His continued good batting form, which also saw him make scores of 52 and 31* in a County Championship match against Yorkshire, saw him retain his place in the Somerset team upon Kieswetter’s return.
Jos Buttler was named Man of the Match in Somerset’s 2010 Friends Provident T20 semi-final victory over Nottinghamshire at the Rose Bowl, reaching a “breathtaking” half-century from 21 balls to score an unbeaten 55 runs in a partnership of 75 with Kieron Pollard. His aggressive batting won him many plaudits and helped Somerset reach the final of the 2010 Clydesdale Bank 40 as well as the Twenty20 cup.
His good form with the bat continued into 2011 as Somerset again reached the final of both the T20 and 40-over competitions, with Jos Buttler top-scoring with a “mature” 86 runs from 72 balls in the 40-over final. In both 2010 and 2011 he was awarded the NBC Denis Compton Award as Somerset’s most promising young player and made his full England debut at the end of the season.
The 2012 season proved similarly productive for Buttler, and featured a “brilliant” half-century scored from 36 balls against Northamptonshire in the domestic 40-over competition, although increasing international call-ups limited his appearances for Somerset and Kieswetter remained the first-choice wicket-keeper for Somerset. The second County Championship match of the 2013 season saw Buttler score 94 runs playing as a specialist batsman and an injury to Kieswetter at the end of April provided an opportunity for Buttler to claim his place as wicket-keeper in the side.
Personal life
Jos Buttler is a fan of English side Manchester City. On 21 October 2017, Buttler married Louise Webber. His English teammates Steven Finn and Alex Hales acted as ushers for the wedding. Their first daughter was born in April 2019, and their second daughter was born in September 2021. Their third child, a son, was born in May 2024.
Playing style
A skilled and experienced cricketer, Buttler has a powerful stance in the crease. During his maiden first-class century against Hampshire in 2010, he hit the ball hard and straight, moving his feet decisively, playing with his bat close to his body and selecting the right balls to attack. Jos Buttler was praised for remaining cool and composed at the crease and for his concentrated determination and high range of shots during the innings. Somerset captain Marcus Trescothick suggested that Buttler could challenge teammate Craig Kieswetter’s place in the England team.
Jos Buttler temperament in the longer forms of the game has been questioned at times as his career has developed. In 2013, he was out for 94 runs for Somerset while attempting to reach his century by hitting a six and George Dobell, writing for ESPNcricinfo, questioned “his ability to defend and deny bowlers”.[
47] Dobell praised the first half of Jos Buttler innings, which ensured a draw for Somerset, saying that “it showed a young man responding to his team’s needs with a restrained, mature performance that exhibited a decent defence and an ability to leave and play straight” and that he had “
produced some of those trademark straight drives and several powerful pulls” but felt that “it is the strokes he does not play that are as relevant as those he does”.
Following Kieswetter’s and Matt Prior’s international retirements in 2015, Jos Buttler became England’s first-choice wicket-keeper in all formats. Whether he should play as a wicket-keeper or specialist batsman was questioned in the middle of the 2015 season, and Bairstow replaced him for the third ODI during Australia’s 2015 tour due to Buttler’s poor form with the bat throughout the Australian series.
Bairstow eventually became the outright wicket-keeper for Tests in December 2015 for the series against South Africa, and Buttler was dropped from the Test side during 2016, whilst continuing to be the first-choice ODI and T20 wicket-keeper.
Career best performances
Buttler made his maiden first-class century in May 2010, scoring 144 for Somerset against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl, Southampton. His highest Test match score of 152 was made for England against Pakistan in August 2020, at the same ground. As of November 2020, this remains Buttler’s highest ever first-class score.
In limited overs cricket, Buttler’s best List A and ODI score of 150 from 77 deliveries was made in February 2019 against the West Indies at the National Cricket Stadium, Grenada. This is also the highest ODI score for an Englishman against the West Indies. Buttler is yet to score a century in one-day matches in county cricket.
Honours
- Buttler was appointed Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to cricket.
- He was named in the ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Year in 2021 and was awarded ICC Men’s Player of the Month in November 2022.
- He received the Somerset County Council Chairman’s Award.
- He has also won the T20 Blast in 2015, the Indian Premier League in 2017, the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019, and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2022.
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