Aussies seek fresh plan for England's 'best ever'

Australia have 48 hours to shake off any lingering rust and come up with a fresh plan to stop Jos Buttler, the man some believe is England's greatest ever limited-overs player.

Buttler has plundered 121 off just 83 balls against Australia in their first competitive games in five months after leading England to a T20 series-clinching victory early Monday morning (Australian time) in Southampton.

The innovative right-hander's player-of-the-match performance (77 not out off 54 balls) proved chastening for the visitors given none among their vaunted top-order managed to spearhead a manageable run-chase in the opening T20, nor post above 40 while batting first in last night's follow-up.

"He's someone we're going to have to plan for for the third game, and obviously the one-dayers as well," said Aussie quick Mitchell Starc, with three ODIs in Manchester to follow Tuesday’s third T20.

"When you get someone striking the way he has for the last two games, it's obviously powerful for T20 cricket in such a short format. We'll have to chat as a group tomorrow."

Buttler made a name as one of T20 cricket's great 'finishers' but England's decision to let him loose against the new ball, a role in which he has had considerable success in the Indian Premier League, has proved a masterstroke.

In 11 international T20s opening the batting (of which all but one have come since June 2018) Buttler has averaged 51 and maintained the superb strike-rate of 157.73.

"It probably is my favourite position to bat in T20 cricket," admitted Buttler after England’s six-wicket win. "I've had most of my success in T20 at the top, but that's natural - if you bat in the top three in T20, it's the best place for everyone.

"We've probably got eight or nine guys who'd stick their hand up to bat in the top three; I'm very happy there, but I'm also very happy to do whatever the team needs of me."

Test teammate Stuart Broad tweeted that Buttler is England's "best ever white ball cricketer" while Shane Warne suggested he is without a discernible weakness in T20s.

"It's the perception of what he could do that upsets the bowlers," Warne told Sky Sports. "If you're a bowler standing at the top of the mark you're thinking, 'What is he going to do?'.

"The key to his batting is the way he hits the ball, he hits it all round the ground. There's no particular weakness to his batting, and when you don't have a weakness, it's hard to come up with a plan to bowl to him."

Australia has had some success in slowing England down with spin in this series – Ashton Agar has taken four wickets in two games, while Glenn Maxwell took 2-14 from three overs in the first match – but it hasn't worked on Buttler.

His strike rate is up to 153 against slow bowling in this series, and he hit a six to win the game on Sunday off leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who now has 1-89 from 7.5 overs in the two games.

"You thought the spinners were going to be the key in the middle overs, but they just couldn't get that done - that was due to Buttler's brilliance," Warne continued.

Starc conceded Buttler is a unique proposition for opposing attacks, but suggested Australia's batters would need to find their own method – rather than copy Buttler’s – to win Tuesday's dead-rubber clash.

"In terms of structuring an innings, our batters are going to have their own plans and play their own way," said Starc.

"I don't think we have too many who bat exactly like Jos. He's someone who moves around the crease a lot, something Smithy (Steve Smith) does I guess.

"In terms of an opener batting through and being quite destructive through the power play and then getting the team home like he did today – that's probably what you want your opening batters to do."

2020 Tour of England

Australia's T20 and ODI squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

England T20I squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Joe Denly, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood. Reserves: Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood

England ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood. Reserves: Joe Denly, Saqib Mahmood

First T20: England won by two runs

Second T20: England won by six wickets with seven balls to spare

September 8:3rd T20, Southampton, 3am AEST Sept 9

September 11:1st ODI, Old Trafford, 10pm AEST

September 13:2nd ODI, Old Trafford, 10pm AEST

September 16:3rd ODI, Old Trafford, 10pm AEST