Alastair Cook and Jos Buttler react to England's narrow defeat to Lord's
By Callum Dent
Alastair Cook believes Jos Buttler is starting to feel at home on the world stage after his maiden international hundred almost swept England over the line at Lord’s yesterday.
The wicketkeeper-batsman again showed his talent with a stunning display of power-hitting all round the wicket in the fourth game of the Royal London One-Day Series against Sri Lanka.
His innings of 121 from 74 deliveries, including 11 fours and four sixes, took England to the brink of victory, but his departure in the final over helped the tourists secure a seven-run triumph that takes the five-match rubber into a decider.
Cook always insisted it would take time for the 23-year-old to adjust to the rigours of the international game, telling ecb.co.uk:“He is a brilliant talent and is really finding his feet now in international cricket.
“He's played for a year or so, almost two years, and that's what it takes for a guy to get used to the difference in international cricket from county cricket.
“Anyone who hits the ball like that in 360 degrees, it is very hard to defend against.”
On Buttler's ton, the quickest in international cricket at HQ, Cook added: “A staggering hundred. I am gutted for him that he's on the wrong side of defeat because an innings like that deserves to win it.
“A great hundred and hopefully there will be lots to come from him.”
Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilahan excelled with the bat to ensure Sri Lanka did not suffer another devastating collapse following the events at Emirates Old Trafford on Wednesday.
Sangakkara top-scored with 112, sharing in a stand of 172 with Dilshan, who made an unusually-patient 71, that helped their side post 300 for nine.
The veteran left-hander's knock was one of beauty, his first century at the home of cricket setting up the prospect of a highly-competitive total.
But the hosts responded with the ball to stem the flow of runs towards the end of the innings, something Cook was encouraged by.
He said: “We did really well to keep them to 300. From the start they got off to, Sangakkara and Dilahan played incredibly well.
“That was a great hundred from Sangakkara, a world-class player. They are allowed to do that. We didn't drop any chances in the field. We bowled pretty well, probably not the best bowling performance we have done, but pretty well.
“Sometimes you just have to put your hands up and say the opposition were better than us with the bat. We did well in the last 15 overs to restrict them. 160-70 going into the power play and to restrict them to 300 was a really good effort.”
In pursuit of 301 to wrap up the series, England's reply was undermined by the loss of both openers inside four overs.
What innings from @KumarSanga2 and @josbuttler. Looking forward to seeing them at Edgbaston on Tuesday #EngvSripic.twitter.com/CwQJkmKCVl
— Warwickshire CCC (@CricketingBears) May 31, 2014
Yorkshire pair Gary Ballance and Joe Root steadied the ship with a steady 84-run stand before Eoin Morgan followed the pair back to the pavilion in quick succession to leave England 111 for five.
That is where Buttler, alongside Ravi Bopara, came into his own.
The latter rotated the strike while the former targeted the boundaries, the duo adding 133 for the sixth wicket.
After a poor start, Cook was satisfied with the way England fought back.
He said: "They needed to do that. Of course you always look at things you could have done better.
“They rebuilt, of course they will look at boundary options they could have tried to take. But you saw as soon as we put a bit of pressure back on Sri Lanka, by Jos playing incredibly well, we got a bit of momentum. We just couldn't get out of that rut.
“We know we couldn't lose too many more wickets early on because you are then definitively out of the game. We did have to take it deep, we just didn't do quite enough.”
The narrow win sets up Tuesday’s clash at Edgbaston perfectly, with the winner taking all, and Cook said: “It will be a brilliant game of cricket and hopefully we can get it all right in that one game and take the series.”