Jos Buttler compiled another of his quick-fire, improvised, seemingly effortless ODI hundreds in Bloemfontein to open up a 16-point gap at the top of the ODI Most Valuable Player rankings.
His previous ODI innings, lest we forget, was his record-breaking fastest England ODI century against Pakistan in Dubai two months ago.
There were some notable similarities: firstly, England’s flexibility after a strong start to promote him up to number four in the order – something that never happened in the World Cup.
In addition, the Lancashire man allowed himself time to get acclimatised to his new surroundings.
In Dubai he was five off nine balls and 17 off 19 before going berserk to reach a 46-ball hundred, and in Bloemfontein he was four off 13 balls with his hundred coming off a more sedate 73 balls.
Like many of England’s attacking batsmen, Buttler appears to be thriving under the new regime of Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace, which encourages fearless cricket and allows players the freedom to express themselves.
Last summer after propelling England to their best ODI score of 408 against New Zealand, injury followed later in that series but his 187 ODI runs came at 136 runs per 100 balls. In the current campaign he has 282 runs at 148 runs per 100 balls.
Alex Hales remains in second spot in the ODI MVP race following his half-century in Bloemfontein. Ben Stokes has closed to within three points of Joe Root at the top of the overall standings after his first ODI contribution of the winter.
Moeen Ali is a further four points back. Next up for England’s MVP contenders it’s Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
ENGLAND ODI MVP
|
PLAYER |
BAT |
BOWL |
FIELD |
CAPT |
WINS |
PLAYED |
POINTS |
AV PTS |
|
Buttler |
57.87 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
4 |
5 |
67 |
13.37 |
|
Hales |
43.59 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
5 |
51 |
10.12 |
|
Moeen |
4.18 |
33.47 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
5 |
45 |
8.93 |
|
Willey |
2.52 |
32.46 |
5 |
0 |
4 |
5 |
44 |
8.80 |
|
Roy |
35.41 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
41 |
8.28 |
ENGLAND OVERALL MVP
|
PLAYER |
BAT |
BOWL |
FIELD |
CAPT |
WINS |
PLAYED |
POINTS |
AV PTS |
|
Root |
158.80 |
-1.87 |
10 |
0 |
8 |
14 |
175 |
12.50 |
|
Stokes |
99.96 |
62.12 |
7 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
172 |
21.51 |
|
Moeen |
33.29 |
119.54 |
7 |
0 |
8 |
14 |
168 |
11.99 |
|
Broad |
22.94 |
128.06 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
156 |
22.29 |
|
Cook |
113.04 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
7 |
121 |
17.29 |
Source: ECB