Jos Buttler creates history, surpasses legendary England speedster’s record

Jos Buttler created a memorable record after being named in England’s playing XI for the second T20I against Sri Lanka at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Pallekele on Sunday, February 1.

The legendary wicketkeeper-batter surpassed James Anderson’s record for the most international matches played for England. The second T20I is Buttler’s 402nd match for the Three Lions across formats. Anderson, on the other hand, finished with 401 appearances for England.

Apart from being England’s most capped player in international cricket, Buttler is also the leading run-getter for the European nation in the shortest format.

Most capped England players:

1. Jos Buttler*: 402 matches
2. James Anderson: 401 matches
3. Joe Root*: 384 matches
4. Eoin Morgan: 356 matches
5. Stuart Broad: 344 matches

*Active players

For the unversed, the world record for the most international appearances is held by former India captain Sachin Tendulkar, who played 664 matches for India from 1989 to 2013, scoring a total of 34,357 runs and taking 201 wickets.

Coming back to Buttler, the Taunton-born has played 57 Tests and 199 ODIs to go with 146 T20Is. He made his international debut in August 2011 against India. One of the highlights of his international career came during the 2022 T20 World Cup, where he led England to the title, beating Pakistan in the final.

Buttler will be playing in the upcoming edition of the T20 World Cup but only as a wicketkeeper-batter. He relinquished captaincy after last year’s Champions Trophy, and Harry Brook subsequently took charge.

In the first T20I, Buttler played a quickfire knock, scoring 17 off just 10 balls with the help of four boundaries. England won the match by 11 runs via DLS method in a rain-curtailed 17-over per side contest in Pallekele.

England will look to bag the series on Sunday with another win against Sri Lanka. The hosts, however, have put on a solid score of 189/5 after Brook won the toss and invited them to bat first.