For much of their history, England could bat for a day in Test cricket and not score 300 runs. Until Eoin Morgan’s revolution a decade ago, they rarely threatened to reach 300 in 50-over cricket. And then, in a moment that produced a magnificent achievement, Harry Brook nudged a single into the offside. England had scored 300 in 20 overs.
“Three hundred, I never thought I’d see that,” said Jos Buttler, who did more than see it. He contributed a devastating, delightful 83 and was still surpassed as his opening partner, Phil Salt, powered on to 141. England made the third highest score in T20 international cricket but the two biggest came at the expense of the Gambia and Mongolia bowlers respectively. England pulverised South Africa for the second time in a week. After 414 runs in 50 overs in Southampton came 304 in 20 at Old Trafford.
It was a demonstration of brutality and brilliance; Bazball at its best, Buttler at his best, Salt sensational. England can be a wildly inconsistent team but when it goes right, it goes very right. They registered their largest-ever victory in T20s, triumphing by 146 runs. South Africa are level in the series, but had their biggest ever defeat.
Other records tumbled. Salt took a couple of the most significant. Liam Livingstone’s 42-ball ton against Pakistan had been England’s fastest. Salt went three quicker. His own 119 had been their highest score in this format. He surged on to 141; and yet still finished with a lower strike rate than Buttler’s astonishing 276.
England’s powerplay was a record, too: the team’s hundred came up in six overs. After 10, they had 166 and 31 of the 60 deliveries had gone to the boundary. Buttler reached 50 in just 18 balls, the third fastest by an England batter in a T20. A relative slowcoach, Salt got there in 19, albeit after his partner had gone.
These were two terrific innings by adopted Lancastrians on a home ground of sorts. If a criticism of Salt in 50-over cricket is that he too rarely lasts 20, that he often holes out for 30 or 40, there have only been eight hundreds by Englishmen in T20I cricket. He has got half of them and this was the highest. He kept on going, Salt peppering the boundaries.
Yet he had been overshadowed in an opening stand. Buttler launched an extraordinary assault, clearing the ropes with clean striking. He has tended to bat third of late: for England, Lancashire, the Manchester Originals and the Gujarat Titans. This was a reminder he can be a devastating opener and, in the shortest formats, there is a logic to sending in the best batters first. Buttler is arguably England’s finest ever in white-ball cricket. He certainly looked it.
If plenty of people suffered as Old Trafford delighted, two were Englishmen. Jamie Smith and Ben Duckett, the rested regulars, could have been opening. Salt and Buttler staked their case to be England’s deadliest double act.
Mainly, though, it was painful for South Africa; for Aiden Markram, whose decision to bowl backfired horribly; for his bowlers. Marco Jansen saw his first three balls hit for four by Salt and his opening over go for 18. Lizaad Williams’s first two deliveries were hit for six by Buttler; the over went for 23. Parachuted into the squad, Bjorn Fortuin may have wished he wasn’t when his first over dispatched for 20, though at least he ended up with both wickets. Amid the carnage, Kwena Maphaka’s figures of four overs for 41 felt respectable. The great Kagiso Rabada went for 70, some among Brook’s audacious cameo.
Some targets are just too big to chase. South Africa had to go for sixes; indeed, Donovan Ferreira hit the biggest of the night and Fortuin got a modicum of revenge with some enterprising hitting. But it is almost impossible to go at 15 an over for 20 overs.
Markram took Luke Wood for 22 in an over to blaze his way to 41. Ryan Rickleton hit Jofra Archer for back-to-back sixes before being brilliantly caught by Liam Dawson. It was telling: attempts at big shots brought their downfall. There were two wickets in an over for the hostile Archer. Sam Curran, changing his pace intelligently, struck in his first two overs. Will Jacks trebled his tally of T20I wickets with two in as many balls. Archer ended the game with a fourth catch to accompany his three wickets.
South Africa finished with 158, a relatively normal score to follow an abnormal one. They had barely outscored Salt. It would be scant consolation that they had witnessed history in the making.
