Jos Buttler spoke of his pride at scoring a maiden Test hundred and admitted there were times during his lengthy period out of the team when he thought the day would never come. The 27-year-old, a surprise recall at the start of the summer, reached three figures in his 23rd Test as England batted out 93 overs on day four in Nottingham.
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Trent Bridge to charge £10 for fifth day
Trent Bridge has announced adult tickets for the fifth day of the third Test match between England and India will go on sale on Wednesday for £10.
England ensured the match will go into a fifth day after a brave last-wicket stand between Adil Rashid and Jimmy Anderson denied India victory. But with just one wicket required, Trent Bridge have resisted calls to allow supporters in for free but will be offering junior prices from £5, while Under 21 tickets in the William Clarke stand on sale for £9.
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“We always think long and hard about day five pricing when we go on sale each October,” said the ground in a statement. “Sometimes you’ll see a full day, sometimes a few overs. In 2013, the match was exceptionally well poised.”
Buttler’s 169-run stand for the fifth wicket with Ben Stokes frustrated India and helped take this third Test into a fifth day after Joe Root’s team reached the close on 311 for nine.
“It was really satisfying,” Buttler said. “It has been a long time coming and a few months ago it was a million miles away. It’s a huge moment for me. I don’t think I can underestimate that feeling. I’m delighted but a little bit lost for words. Definitely to prove you can do it, I think that’s a huge part of the feeling. But to show you can do it for your team is the biggest thing.”
Buttler was dropped as the England Test wicketkeeper in October 2015, losing his place to Jonny Bairstow, and played just three more Tests – as a specialist batsman in India two winters ago – before his surprise recall for the home series against Pakistan in May.
That was also solely as a batsman, although with Bairstow expected to miss the final two Tests of this series with a fractured finger, Buttler is likely to be handed the gloves until the end of the summer. For now, though, he is just thankful for hitting a target he feared he would never reach.
“I was never sure if I’d ever play Test cricket again,” he said. “All those thoughts go through your head. I never thought this would happen. Definitely there were times I thought that race was run.”
Buttler is England’s most destructive white-ball batsman with six ODI hundreds to his name. Yet he insists scoring a Test hundred is the most satisfying moment of his career to date.
“It’s a lot more fulfilment,” he said. “I’ve definitely remembered how hard Test cricket is, having come back into it. This is definitely my proudest moment in an England shirt.”
Meanwhile, Stuart Broad has been fined 15% of his match fee and received one demerit point for using “language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman” following his dismissal of Rishabh Pant during India’s first innings on day two of this Test.