Jos Buttler has become the highest run-scorer in the history of men’s T20 cricket. The England batter went past West Indies great Kieron Pollard’s long-standing record on Wednesday, during Manchester Super Giants’ big win over Welsh Fire in The Hundred at Old Trafford.
Buttler got there with an unbeaten 51 off just 20 balls. His innings included two fours and six sixes, and it came at a strike rate of 250. The knock also helped Manchester Super Giants chase down their target with 31 balls to spare, giving the team a much-needed win.
Buttler now sits at the top of the all-time T20 run charts with 14,833 runs. He has scored these runs in 522 matches, at an average of 35.48 and a strike rate of 147.24. Along the way, he has hit nine centuries and 106 fifties.
How Jos Buttler Broke the Record
Buttler walked out to bat already close to history. Before this match, he had 14,782 T20 runs, just 21 short of Pollard’s mark of 14,803. So the record was always going to fall soon.
Buttler started slowly, working the ball around for singles and twos. Then he changed gears completely. Facing South African fast bowler Marco Jansen, Buttler hit three sixes in a row. The very first of those three sixes sent him past Pollard’s total and into the record books as the new leading run-scorer in T20 history.
He did not stop there, either. Buttler kept swinging, and two more sixes off fast bowler Lockie Ferguson brought up his half-century and finished the match at almost the same moment. His last six of the innings came off the 69th ball of the chase.
It helps to know that The Hundred uses a 100-ball format instead of the usual 20 overs. But since each innings is still bowled in 20 sets of five balls, performances in the competition count the same as any other T20 match for career records. That is why this innings for Manchester Super Giants was enough to push Buttler past Pollard on the all-time list.
Full Match Report: Manchester Super Giants vs Welsh Fire
Welsh Fire batted first at Old Trafford and posted 155 for four from their 100 balls. Opener Matt Short led the way with 71 runs off 47 balls, hitting eight fours and two sixes. His opening partner Phil Salt made a quick 48 off 37 balls, adding three fours and three sixes of his own. Together, the pair put on 125 runs for the first wicket and gave Welsh Fire a strong start to their innings.
Chasing 156 runs to win, Manchester Super Giants also got off to a fast start. Openers Tim Seifert and Paul Walter added 74 runs off just 35 balls before Walter was out for 37 off 18 balls. That brought Buttler out to the crease.
From that point on, Buttler and Seifert batted together and pulled away from Welsh Fire. Seifert finished unbeaten on 62 off 36 balls, while Buttler raced to 51 not out off 20 balls. Manchester Super Giants ended on 161 for one, winning by nine wickets with 31 balls still left. It was an important win for the team, who had lost their previous three matches after a strong start to the season.
Most Runs in T20 Cricket: The Full Top Five List
Here is how the all-time T20 run charts look after Buttler’s record-breaking innings.
| Player | Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | 100s/50s |
| Jos Buttler | 522 | 14,833 | 35.48 | 147.24 | 9/106 |
| Kieron Pollard | 746 | 14,803 | 31.76 | 151.02 | 2/70 |
| Chris Gayle | 463 | 14,562 | 36.22 | 144.75 | 22/88 |
| Alex Hales | 528 | 14,449 | 29.91 | 144.51 | 7/92 |
| David Warner | 439 | 14,284 | 37.29 | 140.77 | 10/118 |
Why Buttler’s Numbers Stand Out
One number makes Buttler’s achievement even bigger. He has scored more runs than Pollard, but he needed 224 fewer matches to do it. If you simply divide total runs by total matches played, Buttler comes out with close to 28 runs for every match. Using the same simple math, Pollard’s long career works out to just under 20 runs a match. That gap is a big reason why Buttler was able to catch up to Pollard after playing so many fewer games.
Buttler’s batting average tells a similar story. This number shows how many runs a player scores, on average, before he gets out. Buttler’s average is 35.48, well ahead of Pollard’s 31.76. Warner actually holds the best average of the top five at 37.29, with Gayle just behind him on 36.22. Buttler’s 35.48 places him third on that particular list, still comfortably clear of both Pollard and Hales. Buttler also has nine centuries, a long way ahead of Pollard’s two, though he still trails both Gayle and Warner on that count. His strike rate of 147.24 is only a touch behind Pollard’s 151.02, and it remains one of the best strike rates of anyone near the top of the all-time list.
Kieron Pollard: The Man Buttler Overtook
Before Wednesday, Kieron Pollard held the record for the most runs in T20 cricket. The former West Indies all-rounder built his tally over 746 matches and many years of franchise cricket around the world, including a long spell with Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Pollard also set the record himself not long ago. In June, he passed Chris Gayle’s tally to become the all-time leading run-scorer during Major League Cricket in the United States. His time at the top did not last long, with Buttler catching up just two months later.
Pollard has stayed close to the game since stepping back from playing for the West Indies. He is now part of the coaching group for MI London, another team in this year’s Hundred. Buttler had actually hoped to break the record a match earlier, when Manchester Super Giants played against MI London and Pollard was sitting in the opposition dugout. Buttler fell just short that day and had to wait until the very next match to finish the job.
Chris Gayle, Alex Hales, and David Warner
Sitting in third place on the list is Chris Gayle, the West Indies batter known as one of the biggest hitters the format has ever seen. Fans and commentators often call him the “Universe Boss,” a nickname he earned by hitting sixes all over the cricket world. Gayle scored 14,562 runs in 463 matches, fewer games than anyone else in the top five needed to reach such a big total. He also holds a big lead in centuries, with 22 T20 hundreds. That is more than double Buttler’s tally, and easily the most of anyone on this list. Gayle held the record for the most T20 runs for a long time before Pollard, and now Buttler, moved past him.
England’s Alex Hales sits fourth on the list with 14,449 runs in 528 matches. Australia’s David Warner rounds out the top five with 14,284 runs in 439 matches. Warner’s total of 118 fifties is the highest of anyone in the top five, ahead of Buttler’s 106, Hales’ 92, Gayle’s 88, and Pollard’s 70.
What Buttler Said After the Match
Speaking after the game, Buttler said it was a proud moment to have scored more T20 runs than anyone else who has ever played the format. He also said records are made to be broken, and that someone would eventually pass his tally too. Buttler pointed to young Indian batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi as a player who could one day take over as the format’s leading run-scorer.
Buttler also looked back on a difficult run of form he had faced earlier in his career. He said the criticism that came with that difficult time made this record feel even better, since it showed how far he had come.
Buttler’s Long Road to the Top
Buttler’s rise to the top of the T20 run charts is the result of many years of scoring runs all around the world. He first made a name for himself with Somerset as a teenager, before going on to build a long career playing for England and in franchise leagues everywhere. In the IPL alone, he has played for Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, and now Gujarat Titans, scoring more than 4,600 runs with seven centuries and 28 fifties along the way. His highest score in the league is 124, and he won the Orange Cap as the tournament’s top run-scorer in the 2022 season.
Buttler has also had plenty of success for England. He was part of the squad that won the 2019 ODI World Cup, and he later led England to the 2022 T20 World Cup title as captain. Those honors, added to his new record as T20 cricket’s all-time leading run-scorer, place Buttler among the true greats the format has ever produced.
His name now sits above Pollard, Gayle, Hales, and Warner on a list that includes some of the biggest hitters the game has known. With 14,833 runs already next to his name, Jos Buttler has set a target that will take a special player to catch.
The post Jos Buttler Smashes Kieron Pollard’s Record in T20 appeared first on SportzCraazy.
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