Jos Buttler offers cheeky reply to critics after England hammer Oman

Antigua,UPDATED: Jun 14, 2024 02:55 IST

England hammered Oman in their third group-stage game in the T20 World Cup 2024. After bundling them out for just 47 runs in the first innings, England chased the target down in just 3.1 over, giving a huge boost to their Net Run Rate. England overtook Scotland’s NRR in the group table and now depend on Australia to beat Scotland, to remain alive in the tournament.

This was the first time that England looked like the defending world champion, dominating Oman at Antigua in the wee hours of Friday morning. Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, England captain Jos Buttler took a sharp dig at the critics who had counted England out of the T20 World Cup 2024 after they had lost to Australia in their previous game. Buttler said that he had been hearing a lot of talk, and said that he understood that it was the job of the broadcasters.

“We have to win games, need to take chances to increase the net run rate. We were successful today. Been around long enough to know that people make comments. We know what's going on in the dressing room. We have another huge match to come. We can only control what we do, all focus is on the next game," Buttler said after the match against Oman.

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Interestingly it was Nasser Hussain who was asking Buttler the questions after the match. Hussain had recently remarked that in case England are knocked out of the T20 World Cup 2024, it could be difficult for Buttler and coach Matthew Mott to explain the poor run in back-to-back ICC tournaments.

"Make no mistake: Buttler and head coach Matthew Mott are vulnerable. You can absorb one poor World Cup, especially when you began as double world champions, but two letdowns would be trickier to explain away. It’s up to England to show what a good side they are," Hussain had said earlier in his column in the Daily Mail.

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Buttler lauded his bowlers for doing extremely well against Oman and said that Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Adil Rashid really set the tone of the game.

“I thought the tone was set really well by the bowlers who picked up the early wickets. Job done today and we've got another big game in two day's time,” Buttler said.

“They bowled brilliantly, Topley with his height and Jofra with the high release as well. They are challenging bowlers and did well with their line and length. We didn't expect the wicket to play like that, looked a really good surface but Adil bowled really well,” concluded the England captain.

England will now face Namibia in their final game of the tournament. They will have to win the match to remain alive in the competition.