2008–10: England youth career Buttler's first taste of
international cricket came in July 2008, when he represented England Under-17s in two warm-up matches against
New Zealand Under-19s. Batting at number five, he scored a rapid 77 not out in the 50-over contest, hitting 11 fours and two sixes during the 49 deliveries he faced. He also played in the two-day match between the two teams, scoring 45 in the first-innings as the match was drawn. In 2009, Buttler played four matches for England Under-18s, two each against Scotland A and Scotland Development XI. He scored 103 not out in the first of these matches, and made starts in each of the following matches, reaching double figures on each occasion, but not scoring higher than 28. Two months later, Buttler made his England Under-19 debut, appearing in the first T20 against
Bangladesh Under-19s. Playing as a specialist batsman, he scored 33 runs off 17 balls as England won by five wickets. During the 2009–10 English winter, Buttler toured with the England Under-19 team. He joined up with the squad in Bangladesh following Somerset's elimination from the Champions League Twenty20 for the seven-match youth
One Day International (ODI) series, playing again as a specialist batsman. He failed to make a significant impact until the final match when he top-scored for England with 42 runs. He remained with the team for the
Under-19 World Cup, where he played all but one of England's six matches, keeping wicket in three of them. He scored 91 runs in three innings, with a top-score of 78 against
India in the fifth-place play-off semi-final. His batting average of 30.33 ranked him fifth on the England team.
2011–12: Early senior career Buttler was called into the senior England squad for the
Twenty20 International (T20I) against the
touring Indian team in September 2011. He made his debut for the team in the match as a specialist batsman before going on to play against the
touring West Indies team later the same season. During the winter of 2011 he was part of the England performance programme for batting and wicket-keeping in India, and played in the
England Lions tours of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, scoring his maiden limited-overs century against
Sri Lanka A in January 2012. He played a T20I against
India in
Kolkata and then toured with
England to play Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in early 2012, making his ODI debut, although he was out second ball
without scoring. Buttler continued to play regular T20 cricket for England throughout 2012. Against
South Africa at
Edgbaston, he joined Somerset teammate Craig Kieswetter with England on 64/3 with only 16 balls remaining. The pair gave "a brutal display of power hitting", raising the final score to 118/5, with Buttler hitting 30 runs from one 32-run over from
Wayne Parnell, the second most productive over in International T20 at the time. The innings established Buttler as a key part of the England one-day team; he had made 10 appearances before the match but reached double figures only once in his six innings, and his performance made him "one of the most talked-about players" in the England team. Buttler spoke about how the innings made him feel "calmer, more myself, more relaxed" He was selected for the England squad for the
2012 ICC World Twenty20, playing in all five of England's matches in the competition, although he scored only 40 runs in his five innings.
2013–14: Test debut, Champions Trophy and T20 World Cup Buttler replaced a rested
Jonathan Trott in the
England ODI squad in India in early 2013 This allowed Buttler to break into the England ODI team on a consistent basis, playing regularly throughout the year in both ODI and T20 formats and increasingly as a wicket-keeper, despite some reservations about the quality of his work behind the stumps. He scored his maiden half-century for England in a T20 warm-up match at the start of
England's tour of New Zealand followed by his first T20I half-century in the second match of the series. After being confirmed as England's first-choice limited-overs wicket-keeper, he played in every match in the
2013 ICC Champions Trophy in England. For his performances in 2013, he was named in the T20I XI by
Cricinfo. Buttler played again in the
2014 ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh in March and played regular one-day cricket throughout the year. He scored his maiden ODI century against
Sri Lanka at
Lord's in May, scoring 121 in 61 balls with nine fours and four sixes, the then-fastest century by any England batsman. During the fifth ODI of the
series at
Edgbaston, Buttler was controversially '
Mankaded' by
Sachithra Senanayake, leading to tension between the teams. England captain
Alastair Cook expressed his disappointment, stating: "I've never seen it before in a game. I was pretty disappointed. If he was properly trying to steal the single then I could possibly understand it. But he was half a yard out of his crease.". After first choice wicket-keeper
Matt Prior stood down after injury on 22 July 2014, Buttler was called up for the England squad for the
third Test against India. He made 85 runs from 83 balls in his first Test innings. He played in the final three Tests of the series before reverting to one-day duty, touring Sri Lanka at the end of the year.
2015–17: World Cup, Ashes series, UAE and tour of Bangladesh After playing for England in the
Tri-series in Australia at the start of the year, Buttler was once again involved with England at an international tournament, playing in the
2015 Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. He scored an unbeaten 39 in 19 balls against Sri Lanka and made 65 against
Bangladesh but ultimately England lost both matches in a disastrous campaign, failing to progress beyond the group stages. Later in the English winter he was selected in the Test team, as wicket-keeper, for the
tour of the West Indies. He continued in the role throughout the English summer, playing both
Tests against New Zealand and all five
Ashes Tests against Australia. He continued to play one-day cricket alongside his Test role, making his then highest ODI score of 129 from 77 balls against
New Zealand. After playing in the
first two Tests against Pakistan in the
United Arab Emirates during October, Buttler was dropped for the third Test, replaced as wicket-keeper by
Jonny Bairstow, and was not selected for any of the Test matches during
England's tour of South Africa, although he did play again in the one-day fixtures during the tour. In the fourth ODI against Pakistan in
Dubai in November, he scored a 46-ball century, the fastest ODI hundred by an England player. Buttler again played for England in the
2016 ICC World Twenty20 and was a regular fixture in the limited-overs squad throughout the year. He scored an unbeaten 90 runs against Pakistan as part of an England record score of 444/3, the fastest half-century by an Englishman. Both records have since been surpassed. Buttler captained the England team in the
ODI series against Bangladesh in October 2016 after numerous players, including regular captain
Eoin Morgan, declined to tour over raised security concerns following a
terrorist attack in Dhaka in July. In the second ODI, there was some controversy as Buttler was involved in a heated exchange with numerous Bangladesh players following his dismissal to
Taskin Ahmed. Buttler, aggravated by the opposition's excessive celebrations, turned to confront them, resulting in him being ushered away by the
umpires. Following the incident, Buttler was kept away by the
International Cricket Council (ICC) and received one demerit point to his peace record, while Bangladesh captain
Mashrafe Mortaza and
Sabbir Rahman were each fined 20% of their match fees and given a demerit point and their money removed. Buttler was again reserve wicket-keeper for the Test series against Bangladesh. He returned to the England Test team for the third Test against India in November, playing in the final three Tests of the series. Buttler averaged just under 40 in a horror tour for England resulting in a 4–0 hammering, he top scored in Mumbai with a counter-attacking 76 to drag the visitors to a solid score. He continued as a regular in the limited-overs team throughout 2016 and 2017, playing again for England in the
2017 ICC Champions Trophy, but was unable to break back into the Test team and was not selected for the
2017–18 Ashes series in Australia. He was named in the
ICC World ODI XI in 2016.
2018–2022: Return to Test cricket, World Cup and Ashes series In May 2018, Buttler was recalled into England's Test squad to
play Pakistan at Lord's later that month. He had a successful return to Test cricket, scoring two half-centuries and scoring the most runs in the series; he also won the Man of the Match award at
Headingley. His unbeaten 80 was the catalyst to put England ahead of the game after first innings. In the subsequent
ODI series against Australia in June 2018, he scored two half-centuries in the first four matches and then, in the fifth and final game of the series, he made 110 not out to take England to a historic series whitewash. In this match, no other English batsman made more than 20 and Buttler was afterwards described as "the best white-ball wicketkeeper batsman in the world". Buttler was named Man of the Match for his 110 not out, and also named Man of the Series for his impressive contributions with both bat and gloves. Buttler's innings was remarkable, coming in at 27–4, he looked the only settled batsman before the hosts slumped to 114–8. Alongside the tail, he dragged England home in dramatic style. In 2020,
Wisden ranked it Buttler's finest ODI hundred, as well as the best ODI innings of 2018. In the T20I match of Australia's tour, Buttler scored the fastest T20I half-century by an English cricketer, in 22 balls. Buttler replaced
James Anderson as the Test vice-captain on 31 July 2018, thus combining the role in all formats. He registered his maiden Test century in the third Test of
India's tour of England in August 2018, with a score of 106. Buttler then retained his place in the Test and one-day squads, being selected to
tour Sri Lanka in October and into the following year. In a low-scoring series, Buttler hit two vital half-centuries as England romped to a 3–0 win. He was commended for nullifying the extremely difficult batting conditions by employing techniques such as using his feet and frequently playing sweep shots. In February 2019, during the fourth ODI of
England's tour of the West Indies, Buttler scored a career-best 150 from 77 deliveries as England reached 418/6. During this innings, he hit 12 sixes, at the time the most by any English batsman in an ODI, and went from 51 to 100 in just 15 balls and from 100 to 150 in just 16 deliveries. This was part of an England world record for the most sixes in an ODI, with 24. Following the innings, West Indian batsman
Chris Gayle praised Buttler, stating, "He is superb, one of the best strikers [of the ball] in world cricket today.... We can see he is a game-winner, a game-changer and every team needs a player like that to win games.", while England captain Eoin Morgan described him as "built like a champion
racehorse". In the second ODI of the five-match
series against Pakistan in May, Buttler scored an unbeaten 110 from 55 balls, his century coming in only 50 deliveries. This is the second fastest hundred by an English batsman in ODI cricket after his own record set against Pakistan in 2015.
2019 Cricket World Cup In April 2019, he was named as the vice-captain of the
England squad for the
2019 Cricket World Cup. The ICC named Buttler as the key player of England's squad prior to the tournament. Buttler made a quiet start to the tournament, scoring only 18 runs in the opening match of the tournament against South Africa at
The Oval, which ended in a comprehensive 104-run win for England. In the next match against Pakistan, he scored 103 from 76 balls (the then-fastest century by an English batsman in a World Cup) and shared a 130-run partnership with
Joe Root for the fourth wicket, despite a shock 14-run defeat. He made 64 in the third match against Bangladesh as England posted 386/6, their highest ever World Cup score. However, he did not keep wicket during Bangladesh's innings after sustaining a minor hip injury while batting, making way for
Jonny Bairstow to assume the role for the match, which England won by 106 runs. Buttler scored 59 runs in the
final against New Zealand and contributed to a crucial 110-run partnership with
Ben Stokes to help tie the match. His innings was particularly crucial and game-changing as he scored at a quicker rate on a difficult pitch where other batsmen including his partner and Man Of the Match Ben Stokes struggled. Towards the end with both teams making 241 from their respective innings, he was selected to bat in the ensuing
Super Over along with Stokes, from which the pair scored 15 runs; Buttler scoring seven with a boundary from the final ball. He completed the
run out of
Martin Guptill on the last ball of New Zealand's over as he attempted a match-winning second run. The throw was from
Jason Roy which was quite wide of the stumps but Buttler's game awareness and compusure made up for it as he completed the run out. His match winning run out was later awarded as the moment of the year in 2020 in BBC Sports awards of 2019. This tied the Super Over and secured England's maiden World Cup title, winning by a superior boundary count. In July 2019, following England's World Cup success, the ECB named Buttler in the fourteen-man Test squad for the upcoming
Ashes series.
2020 Before the suspension of International Cricket in March, Buttler was part of the England team which beat South Africa in a 3 match T20 series, 2–1. Buttler scored 55 in the final match aiding a large England total and ultimate victory. On 29 May 2020, Buttler was named in a 55-man group of players to begin training ahead of international fixtures starting in England following the
COVID-19 pandemic. On 17 June 2020, Buttler was included in England's 30-man squad to start training
behind closed doors for the
Test series
against the West Indies. On 4 July 2020, Buttler was named in England's thirteen-man squad for the first Test match of the series. Buttler was England's stand out batsman of the summer, averaging 52 whilst notching up 2 half centuries, the latter a series winning 75 in the fourth innings at
Old Trafford alongside
Chris Woakes from almost certain defeat. It was later defined a career saving innings. In the final test of the summer at
The Rose Bowl, Southampton, Buttler struck a second test century, 152 off 311 deliveries, in a record partnership with teammate
Zac Crawley. It was described as a mature and coming-of-age innings. Despite Buttler's strong summer with the bat, his
wicketkeeping was brought under heavy criticism as he dropped several key chances in both series. In September Buttler was named in the England squad for the upcoming Australia ODI and T20 series. Despite a lean ODI series, Buttler scored 43 and a match winning 77* in the first two matches before being rested for the final match. Buttler's year ended with a 3 match T20 visit to
South Africa. In the final match of the series Buttler was part of a match-winning and record-breaking second-wicket partnership with teammate
Dawid Malan, scoring 67* himself.
2021 On 11 December 2020, Buttler was named vice captain for the
tour of Sri Lanka in January 2021 following
Ben Stokes' resting. He made scores of 30, 55 and 46 not out in
Galle as England won 2–0. He retained the wicket-keeping duties for the tour despite his troubled summer and performed impressively, taking 9 catches and executing his first Test stumping. It was announced on 21 January that Buttler would be returning home after the first test of the upcoming
series in India in line with England's rotation and resting policy. This came a day after it was revealed that he had been retained by
Rajasthan Royals for the
2021 Indian Premier League. Buttler made scores of 30 and 24 and took 5 catches helping England to a famous victory in the first test against India in
Chennai before returning home to rest. Buttler returned to India for the white ball leg of the tour. In the 5 match T20 series in
Ahmedabad, Buttler was England's stand out batsman with 2 half centuries and averaging over 40, including his highest
T20I score of 83 not out in the 3rd outing. During the following ODI series, Buttler's lean 50 over form continued. However, through
Eoin Morgan's finger injury, Buttler captained the final 2 games; winning 1. In September 2021, Buttler was named in England's squad for the
2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. On 1 November 2021, in England's World Cup match against
Sri Lanka, Buttler scored his first century in T20I cricket, with a 101
*. and became the first English men's player to score a century in all three formats of cricket (Tests, ODIs and T20Is). In November 2021, Buttler was named as the vice-captain of England's squad for the
2021–22 Ashes series.
2022 On 17 June 2022, Buttler featured in the first ODI
as part of a three-match series against the
Netherlands. He scored 162
not out in 70 balls, his personal ODI high score and England would score 498 runs, which is the highest
ODI score of all time. During that match Buttler scored 150 runs in 65 balls, the second fastest in the history of ODI cricket, one ball behind
AB De Villiers.
White-ball captaincy Following the retirement of
Eoin Morgan, Buttler was appointed as captain of the England ODI and T20I teams on 30 June 2022. His first series as permanent captain was at home to India, with England losing 2–1 in both T20Is and ODIs. This was followed by a drawn ODI series against South Africa and another 2–1 defeat in T20Is, with Buttler making a string of scores between 12 and 29.
2022 T20 World Cup Rishi Sunak after England's
2022 T20 World Cup victory. He is holding the T20 World Cup trophy in his hand. Buttler's first tournament as captain was the
2022 T20 World Cup. After an opening victory against Afghanistan, a surprise defeat against Ireland and a rained-out game against Australia saw England needing to win their remaining two games to qualify for the next round. In the match against New Zealand, Buttler scored 73 off 47 balls, which helped England seal a crucial victory. In the semi-final, he scored 80 not-out as part of a record opening stand of 170 with Alex Hales (86*), seeing England to a 10-wicket victory and a place in the final. England won the final against
2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Pakistan by 5 wickets, with another quickfire score of 26 from 17 balls by Buttler setting them off to a fast start; however, the team was reeling with his dismissal at 45–3, before
Ben Stokes saw the team to victory with one over left. With this Buttler became only the second England captain to win a T20 World Cup, making him a World Cup-winning captain. Buttler's role as a captain was particularly the most important in England's victorious World Cup campaign as he gave all-rounders
Sam Curran and Ben Stokes clarity about their roles and instilled confidence in the youngsters which helped them perform to their potential, and he succeeded both as a captain and as a batsman in the World Cup.
2024 T20 World Cup In May 2024, he was named the captain in England's squad for the
2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament.
2025 Champions Trophy Buttler resigned the captaincy during the
Champions Trophy 2025, with England having lost their first two matches in the competition and being unable to qualify for the semi-final stage. == T20 franchise career ==