news-engine

Personal records and milestones are often shrugged off by players claiming they're in it for the greater good, so it was refreshing to hear Jos Buttler taking pride in his place as the highest run-scorer in the history of T20 cricket. After some 36 hours to reflect on overhauling Kieron Pollard's record of 14,803 career runs in a six-laden 51 not out as Manchester Super Giants beat Welsh Fire in the Hundred on Wednesday, Buttler toed the party line somewhat: "You don't do it for the records, but it is nice." But he was still pretty chuffed, and why not? After a lean stretch with the bat prompted a change in technique - which he credits some words from England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick with getting him through - Buttler's game continues to evolve with his 36th birthday looming next month. "It's obviously a really proud moment," said Buttler, who now has 14,833 T20 runs. "It's something - not that I'll focus on forever and ever and, you know, Kieron Pollard will probably score some runs and go back past it as well - but it's a really proud day. "Stuff like that happens, you look at the list of players and you're like, 'well, it's quite cool to be up alongside those names,' and to have the longevity and performance to score the volume of runs is great. So, it is a very proud day and quite cool that at a moment in time there's no one in the world with more T20 runs than you." Just a few months ago, Buttler was in a batting rut, scoring just 87 runs from eight innings at the T20 World Cup before turning things around at the IPL in April, where he was among the top 10 run-scorers. That preceded an excellent home T20I series against India, where he was the third-highest run-scorer with 175 at 43.75 and strike rate of 182.29. In the fifth match, he blazed a 51-ball century during a record-breaking 233-run stand for the second wicket with Harry Brook. After some time off, followed by some research and analysis, Buttler had identified an area of his technique he wanted to improve and set himself to work. "I was probably batting as well as I've ever batted in 2025 and then at the start of the year, and the World Cup especially, just didn't go quite how I'd have liked," Buttler said. "Having had a bit of time off and then watching some footage, in the World Cup, nothing kind of felt right. "Ultimately I feel like I can't see the ball very well when I'm not playing well. So I was looking at my trigger movements and the position I get to when the ball is coming out of the hand and I sort of worked back from, 'okay, where do I want to be at that moment in time,' and starting from there. "Because I like to have a trigger movement, trying to make sure my trigger movement got me into that position where I can see the ball really well, I can move from there and my bat coming, if you were looking at the angle of the bat, more from second slip or third slip as opposed to getting sort of tucked in behind me, pointing at the wicketkeeper… I was twisting as opposed to staying in line." Buttler recalled a conversation with Trescothick, currently interim coach for the England Test team while awaiting the arrival of Stephen Fleming, with simplifying an exercise that can seem as daunting as it is necessary when tinkering with technique. Trescothick's advice came in particularly handy as Buttler saw the potential pitfalls when "you can become too curious and try too many different things". "The interesting thing I found during this process - and it's Marcus Trescothick who said this to me - is I think sometimes if you work on your technique, it allows your mind to free up. "A lot of time when people are out of form, it's like you've got to get out of your own way. It's mental and you've got to lose that. But because I was like, 'something feels off' and I probably didn't understand it was for me at that point a technical change. So, once I've made the technical stuff and I'm comfortable and happy with that, my mindset was much better. "And other times for other players, it might be the other way around. You need to improve your mindset to allow your technique to work or something. But for this case, for me, I do think Marcus was right, that it was a technical change that allowed my mind to be freer." Buttler was speaking in support of KP Snacks' Everyone In Fund, which supports the ECB's Cricket Cities programme to remove barriers and create opportunities for participation. Buttler is well aware of the players setting themselves up for their piece of the game's history too. He has already tipped India teenager Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to eventually become the leading T20 run-scorer in the world but, in the Hundred, there are some closer to home he has eye on too. "I'd put Harry Brook in there because I think he could be the best all-format player for England ever, potentially, with the way he can play the game," Buttler said. "If I'm looking at really young players, I'd say Thomas Rew is someone I think is going to be a really special player. "I've watched him a bit on the TV. He captained England in the U19s and there's maybe a bit of bias because he just left the school that I was at as well [King's College, Taunton]. He looks like an incredibly talented player. Someone that I think we can get excited about in the years to come." So long as the desire to evolve his game is there, however, Buttler shows every intention of sticking around for a while yet. KP Snacks, Official Partner of The Hundred, have launched the Everyone In Fund, in support of the ECB's Cricket Cities programme. To find out more, visit everyonein.co.uk