Injured Jos Buttler smashes fastest ever T20 fifty for Lancashire

England and Lancashire wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler was struck by the ball on his left thumb while trying to stop a delivery behind the wickets for Lancashire in their NatWest T20 Blast win over Worcestershire. He will undergo an X-ray to confirm its a fracture.

However, the injury did not prevent Buttler from making his mark with the bat as he blasted a 20-ball half-century, Lancashire’s fastest fifty in Twenty20 cricket.

Buttler opened the innings and hammered seven fours and four sixes in his 57 off 23 deliveries to inspire the defending champions to a 7-wicket win at New Road.

Buttler and Alviro Petersen (34 off 20) put on 94 runs in 5.4 overs for the first wicket, with 98 runs coming in the first six overs of power play. A record power play score in any T20 match played in England, domestic or international.

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Lancashire cricket director and head coach Ashley Giles said: “We’ll get it X-rayed and see where he is. It’s not ideal. I don’t want to speculate, but it’s a nasty knock. Once we get it X-rayed, we’ll know.”

“He did make a comment that he doesn’t use his top hand anyway! He played beautifully. He now opens the batting as well. What doesn’t he do?

“I asked him on the way down if he wanted to do open. He’s done it for England in the week, so who are we to stop him? He can basically pick where he wants to bat because he’s high, high quality. To strike some of those balls that he did there, there’s not many, if any, in world cricket who can do that,” Giles concluded.

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Jos Buttler was left out of England’s Test squad for the opening Test match against Pakistan starting next week.