The Somerset schoolboy who became England's greatest white-ball cricketer
Jos Buttler completed the run-out in the super over that won England the 2019 World Cup, then captained the side to the 2022 T20 World Cup title while top-scoring for his country. In August 2026 he passed Kieron Pollard to become the leading run-scorer in men's T20 cricket.
Born in Taunton on 8 September 1990, Buttler came up through Somerset's youth sides and was keeping wicket in senior club cricket for Glastonbury at 15. His school career peaked in April 2008, when he hit 227 not out for King's College, Taunton, in a record opening stand of 340 in a national 50-over schools match. That season he captained the school and averaged 94.55.
Somerset gave him his chance in 2010 when their regular keeper, Craig Kieswetter, was called up by England. Rather than hire a veteran keeper as cover, Brian Rose, who ran Somerset's cricket, backed the teenager on the strength of good reports. Buttler repaid him. In the T20 semi-final against Nottinghamshire he reached fifty from 21 balls, sharing a stand with Pollard, and was named man of the match. In 2010 and 2011 he won Somerset's award for most promising young player.
He moved to Lancashire at the end of 2013 and soon equalled the record for the fastest T20 fifty, reaching it in 22 balls. His international debuts came in T20 in 2011, ODIs in 2012 and Tests in 2014. His 177-run partnership with Adil Rashid against New Zealand in 2015 remains the biggest seventh-wicket stand in one-day international history.
Buttler is England's most-capped T20 international player and its highest run-scorer in the format, one of only two Englishmen with more than one T20I hundred. Behind the stumps he holds England's records for most dismissals in both ODIs and T20Is. His inventive, aggressive batting is why many regard him as the country's finest white-ball cricketer. He took over as limited-overs captain in June 2022.
Source: Jos Buttler
