Buttler has so far accumulated 250 runs at the average of 50 and strike-rate of 140.44 for Sydney Thunder, with three half-centuries. His 54-ball 55 against Perth Scorchers on a slow wicket helped Sydney win the match on Wednesday, January 2.

“The last year is the best I’ve ever played for a prolonged period of time,” Buttler, who has been named in Wisden’s Test and ODI teams of the year, told cricket.com.au.

If you could swap one player in our ODI team of the year for one player in your national side, who would it be? 🤔https://t.co/TlxrcGXfwS

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) January 1, 2019

“I’ve had some great experiences over the last year, and I’m probably at an age now where I understand my own game a lot better and I’m just trying to keep learning … Over time you learn a lot more about yourself, so I’m trying to take that confidence into games. I’ve got a lot of confidence and quite a bit of clarity as well.

“That’s always something you fight with a little bit in the game – there’s that constant battle of trying to improve, but not losing what you’ve got and that kind of thing,” Buttler said.

He got out playing a similar reverse sweep against Jhye Richardson, hitting the stumps with his bat. “I like to have as many options to call upon as I can, and today I felt like I kept trying things that weren’t quite working, and you get to a point where you come up with that maybe being the best shot at the time,” he said.