CRICKET: England contract delights Buttler (From Somerset County Gazette)

CRICKET: England contract delights Buttler

7:00pm Wednesday 26th September 2012 in Sport

Somerset’s Jos Buttler has been awarded an incremental contract by England after playing in ten one-day internationals in the past 12 months.

The 22-year-old, who hails from Wedmore and attended King’s College in Taunton before joining Somerset, made his senior debut in 2009.

He is currently in Sri Lanka playing in the T20 World Cup from where he said: “I am delighted to have got an incremental contract thanks to the points system.

“I think that there were only a couple of days left so I was quite lucky to qualify.

“Things have been going well for me in Sri Lanka and I am really enjoying the hot weather out here.”

Buttler and Somerset team mate Craig Kieswetter both played on Sunday when England were well-beaten by India, despite Kieswetter’s 35 off 25 balls.

And they will be hoping for better things in Group 1 of the Super Eight stage of the competition where they face West Indies in the opening game, starting at 2pm GMT today (Thursday).

Meanwhile for the first time in many years, Somerset players topped both the First Class batting and bowling averages.

Nick Compton, who was selected for the England squad for their forthcoming Test series to India later in the autumn, headed the batting with 1,494 runs at an average of 99.60, while Pakistani left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman topped the bowling averages.

Rehman took 27 wickets at 14.19, including a career best 9-65.

n ‘Somerset Cricket – The Glory Years’ a book containing a visual history of that evocative era, will be officially launched at the Cricket Museum at the County Ground on Monday (October 1) at noon. All cricket enthusiasts are invited.

The book features a collection of photographs by Alain Lockyer with text by County Gazette’s cricket writer, Richard Walsh.