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Crazy Run-Rate From Crazy Opening Batsmen
Source:Thuppahis
Vithushan Ehantharajah, in ESPNcricinfo, 13 September 2025, where the title is
With Duckett and Smith rested, Buttler and Salt’s dominant stand revived a proven pairing heading into the World Cup
Phil Salt and Jos Buttler took England to 100 in the powerplay • Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images
The initial shock of England‘s score in the second T20I against South Africa is tempered by the numbers at the very top of the order. Phil Salt‘s unbeaten 141 from 60 balls and Jos Buttler‘s 83 from 30 went some way to explaining how one Test nation put up 304 for 2 on another.
This was a batter’s dream of a fresh Emirates Old Trafford pitch, against a Proteas attack missing the vaunted pair of Lungi Ngidi and Keshav Maharaj. And while head coach Shukri Conrad was less than impressed, the protagonists of the “onslaught” that left his side “bereft of ideas” do at least have previous.
Salt and Buttler’s 126 was the 12th century stand by England openers, and they are now responsible for a third of them. They also bagged England their highest powerplay score of a crisp 100 for 0. And yet, neither were certain to be opening at all in this series having been absent from the top two at the start of the season, for differing reasons.
Salt’s were personal: he was granted time off for the West Indies series after the birth of his first child. Buttler’s, meanwhile, was business, continuing to operate at No.3, a role he had taken on since the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-final defeat to India.
During the 3-0 sweep of West Indies, Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith made compelling cases for their own partnership. Signing off with 120 in Southampton felt like the start of a new direction.
For Salt, that could have been terminal, not that he wanted to check, believing seeking a guarantee to be “arrogant”, and a misunderstanding of the cut-throat nature of top-level, international sport.
Buttler, meanwhile, probably assumed he’d continue out of necessity. He had instigated the move to first drop when captain, to remedy a problem position. Between England’s 2022 World Cup success and 2024 exit, five different batters (Dawid Malan, Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali and, on a single occasion, Buttler) had produced just a single fifty in 20 innings between them.
Having batted at three for 40 matches leading into this series, across international and domestic codes, Buttler was clearly knuckling down for the full-time gig. An average of 55.00 for Harry Brook in the role suggested welcome stability. But with Smith and Duckett rested at the end of a long summer, he and Salt found themselves back up top. And how.
“We’ve got pretty set roles. It’s my job to get us off to as good a start as soon as possible and give Jos the opportunity to take a couple of balls, because when he does, he goes on and gets a match-winning score, a lot of the time, a lot more than anyone else.”Phil Salt
This was a blitz of boundaries and records, both individual and collective. And this was no anomaly. Of the 17 times they have opened, this was the ninth fifty of more.
Behind the consistency is clearly a synergy between the two. An understanding honed for England, Lancashire and Manchester Originals. Mutual benefits and admiration.
“It’s the way we bounce off each other well,” Salt explained. “We’ve got pretty set roles. It’s my job to get us off to as good a start as soon as possible and give Jos the opportunity to take a couple of balls, because when he does, he goes on and gets a match-winning score, a lot of the time, a lot more than anyone else.
“When one of us needs to get the other back on strike, we don’t often need to communicate out there. There’s no ego or anything like that, we just do it and I think that’s a massive part of a good opening partnership.”
Buttler was similarly effusive at the innings break, lauding his partner’s sprint out of the blocks to the tune of three successive fours and a final ball six to take 18 off Marco Jansen’s opening over: “I think Salty’s one of the best players of the first ball and first over.”
Buttler’s right, he is. No international batter scores faster in the first over of games; Salt’s strike rate of 144.80 almost 20 points ahead of the next contender, Malaysia’s Syed Aziz (126.53). Salt knows it, too.
He makes sure to keep across his “balls per boundary” in the first over and powerplay. Last week, former England white ball analyst Freddie Wilde sent him a “batting MOT” document after Salt requested a breakdown of his current strengths and weaknesses. Even the golden duck at the beginning of the five-over chase in Wednesday’s first T20I – caught at deep backward square – kept Salt on track for a high attacking shot percentage.
“It’s something I worked [on] when I wasn’t in the England team, when Eoin Morgan was the captain,” said Salt of his immediate antics when in the middle. “I remember having a conversation with CJ (Chris Jordan) about how you need to play, and how if I did this (attacked from ball one), I could be the first person to put that stamp on it.
“In order to knock a man out of possession, you need to do something they can’t do. From quite early in my career, I looked at that and thought if I can be the most dangerous in the first six, 10, 15 balls of the game, that’s quite a unique tool. It’s something I’ve always worked on from that point.”
Even with Salt’s rapid start, he and Buttler were broadly level after four overs – the former 31 off ten to the latter’s 35 off 14. Buttler subsequently faced nine of the next 11 deliveries and added 30 more. Buttler looked set for century No.2. A top-edged sweep brought about Buttler’s end.
“From quite early in my career, I thought if I can be the most dangerous in the first six, 10, 15 balls of the game. That’s quite a unique tool.”Phil Salt
In swooped Salt to farm the accolades Buttler had left behind; the fastest T20I century now his, off 39 deliveries, along with England’s highest score, and extra distance in the hundred column. For all Buttler’s achievements, and the universal truth that he is the greatest limited overs batter England have produced, Salt has the titles usually reserved for GOATS.
When that was put to Salt after the match, the 29-year-old humbly nodded to the inspiration for his white ball prowess: “I can’t turn into Jos Buttler overnight, but I certainly try and take the best bits.”
It is easy to get giddy after nights like this, but it should be easier to see the light. England’s management may crave continuity across all three formats, but persisting with Duckett and Smith would be a failure to acknowledge something more tested and far superior.
Duckett could bat three, giving England extra weapons against the ample spin they are likely to face in next year’s T20 World Cup on the subcontinent. Smith, meanwhile, can either slot further down or wait his turn. He remains green at this level, and it is worth noting his career runs are 11 shy of what Salt managed in an evening.
As it happens, the only opening pair to average more than Salt and Buttler’s 60.43 is Buttler and Alex Hales, who combined for 66.00 across nine innings. That union was contained within England’s successful 2022 World Cup campaign. The product of reconciliation with Hales following Jonny Bairstow’s freak leg break.
Three years on, the chain of events presenting England with a world-class opening combination ahead of another global tournament are less serendipitous. Now they just need to see sense, which has been in front of them the whole time.
