Watch: Jos Buttler enjoyed an excellent day behind the stumps, taking a brilliant catch and pulling off a direct-hit run out to give England two key wickets in their crunch T20 World Cup clash against South Africa.
The Proteas had got off to a strong start, with Quinton de Kock racing away inside the powerplay, and while England had done well to haul in the scoring rate, their opponents were well-set for a profitable second half to the innings.
De Kock himself had been reprieved by the TV umpire, who ruled a boundary catch attempt by Mark Wood had touched the ground, and Jofra Archer was reintroduced in an effort to find a breakthrough.
De Kock had taken full toll of the speedster’s first over, but Archer came back strongly, and found the opener’s edge. It looked as if the ball would fly to the boundary, but instead Buttler flew to intercept it, taking a one-handed screamer to his left.
Shortly after, he had more reason to celebrate, accounting for the wicket of Heinrich Klaasen, rated by some as the best white-ball middle-order batter in the world.
Promoted to No.3, he couldn’t get going, and found his stay cut short after being called through for a quick single. Buttler had to chase after the ball after it hit his pads, but after collecting it, swiveled and nailed the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Klaasen was out of his ground, and South Africa had slipped from 92-1 to 103-3.
They ended up scoring 163-6 off their 20 overs.
Watch Jos Buttler’s exceptional catch and run out below:
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