Jos Buttler elated with ‘good performance’ after England’s winning start to Super 8

England skipper Jos Buttler was elated with his team’s winning start to the Super 8 stage as they thrashed West Indies by 8 wickets in St. Lucia on June 20, Thursday. The defending champions, who scraped their way through to the Super 8s, showed no signs of poor form and were superb in all three departments. The bowlers restricted West Indies to 180 on a good track, before Phil Salt guided the team to the win with an unbeaten 87.

Speaking after the win, Buttler said the team was practising well and executed their plans on Thursday. Buttler was happy to see the bowlers restrict the hosts and felt they were smart and calculated with the bat. The England skipper praised the partnership between Salt and Jonny Bairstow, that sealed the win for his side in the end.

WI vs ENG, Super 8: Highlights | Scorecard

“That was a really good performance. We were practicing well, executed well today. [Chasing 180] We bowled well to restrict a powerful batting line up. We were smart with the bat, the guys were calculative. Bairstow-Salt partnership was very good. Jonny took the game deep and Salty broke it with that one over,” said Buttler.

Why Buttler used Archer in 16th over?

One of the masterstrokes by Buttler in the game was to use Jofra Archer against Nicholas Pooran. The pacer gave away just 4 runs and picked up the wicket of Pooran to put a halt on the momentum of West Indies. Buttler said he used Archer at that point to get a wicket or restrict them to make the death overs difficult.

“That’s why we brought Jof [Archer] back there with Pooran and Russell in. We wanted to use him to get a wicket or restrict them and make the back five really difficult,” said Buttler.

Buttler also praised Bairstow’s knock and said you need to keep backing class players.

“Jonny batted at No. 4 today, class player for a really long time. You keep backing class players. Incredible, mature, senior player’s innings. People say you learn when you lose, but you learn when you win as well. Important to put this to bed and focus now.”

England will now turn their focus to South Africa as the two teams will meet on June 21.