England make 304 and Phil Salt hits 141 as records tumble against South Africa

Together, Buttler and Salt, two Lancashire batsmen on their home ground, had reached 100 for none by the end of the six-over powerplay, another England record, and the ten-over total of 166 for one was the highest in all T20 internationals. On a prime batting pitch, the records kept tumbling and Aiden Markram, the South Africa captain, cannot have been popular with his bowlers for inviting England to bat first.

At a topsy-turvy time for England in white-ball cricket, following a 2-1 ODI series defeat against the same opponents, this was a hugely encouraging performance as Harry Brook’s side look towards the T20 World Cup starting in India and Sri Lanka in February. This was their biggest margin of victory in a T20 international, five days after they achieved the same feat in the final dead-rubber ODI in Southampton.

The tone had been set instantly by Salt, as he hit fours from the first three balls of the innings off Marco Jansen. The first was a drive deliberately sliced over point, followed by a glance to fine leg and a straight drive thumped straight back past Jansen. When the final ball of the over sailed back over Jansen’s head for six, Salt had taken 18 from the opening over.

Taking his cue, Buttler swiftly picked up the theme against the slippery seam of Lizaad Williams in the third over, pulling and driving sixes as 23 came from the over, and England were already 48 for none.

In such circumstances, Markram could have done with the calming presence of Keshav Maharaj, his reliable left-arm spinner, in an attempt to restore some order. But Maharaj has been ruled out of the series with injury, his role as left-arm spinner taken by Bjorn Fortuin, who promptly conceded 20 from his first over as Buttler repeatedly lofted him over mid-off.

Where else could Markram turn? Bigger names were treated with similar disdain, as Buttler then took a liking to Kagiso Rabada’s shorter balls on the bouncy Old Trafford pitch, reaching his half-century from only 18 balls, the third fastest for England in T20 internationals. By the end of the six-over powerplay, they were 100 without loss, comfortably eclipsing England’s previous highest powerplay tally of 89.

The feeling of relief for South Africa was palpable when Buttler’s remarkable innings came to an end in the eighth over, clipping a sweep to deep backward square-leg off Fortuin for 83 from only 30 balls. But this only left the stage clear for Salt, who took only one ball longer than Buttler to reach his half-century, driving Williams powerfully wide of mid-off and following up with a six slashed over extra cover from a full toss next ball.

While England’s batsmen were clearly in the mood, South Africa’s bowlers did not help themselves at times. No sooner had Markram brought his fine leg up into the ring than Kwena Maphaka, the left-arm seamer, bowled three short leg-side balls that Salt had only to help for four around the corner. Shukri Conrad, the South Africa coach, felt that his bowling attack, missing Lungi Ngidi as well as Maharaj, had badly let themselves down. “An abject performance,” he said. “One-dimensional, bereft of ideas. We were not nearly good enough.”

Rabada was struggling for rhythm, having played little cricket recently, and he bowled four costly no-balls. In the 13th over, he bowled two wides and overstepped twice, granting two free hits to Salt. The first was thumped over long on for six, the next was swung into the leg-side as Salt completed his 39-ball century, three balls fewer than the previous quickest for England, by Liam Livingstone against Pakistan four years ago. From the fifth ball of the 18th over, Salt pulled Mephaka for a single to reach 120, passing his own record for England’s highest T20 score, made against West Indies in Trinidad in 2023.

Into the openers’ slipstream came Jacob Bethell, maintaining the form he showed in the ODI series with a breezy 26, including consecutive sixes driven straight off Markram’s off-spin, before Fortuin snared him, caught on the long-off boundary.

Brook is running on fumes at the end of a draining season, but coming in with the pressure off was just the tonic. England’s captain played a lovely cameo, including one jaw-dropping shot off Williams, a low full toss swept from well outside off stump, cleanly over midwicket for six, a stroke completed with a Rishabh Pant-style tumble. With two balls remaining, he steered Rabada into the offside to bring England’s total to 300, bringing huge cheers from the crowd. “It’s a hell of an achievement,” Salt said. “I’ve played in IPL games where we’ve gone bananas throughout and ended up on 270. Three hundred is amazing.”

Faced with such a gargantuan target, South Africa had to go hell for leather in pursuit. Markram struck 22 off Luke Wood’s second over and Ryan Rickelton hit Archer for successive straight sixes, but was then well caught at midwicket by Liam Dawson pulling at the next ball. Lhuan-dre Pretorius skied his second ball to backward point, Dewald Brevis spliced a pull to mid-on and when Markram, having hit two huge sixes, was caught inside the long-off boundary off Adil Rashid, the contest was effectively settled.

Under normal circumstances, a ten-over total of 109 for four would have been promising for South Africa. Here, it left them needing 20 an over to win. Even by the standards of modern white-ball batting, this was far from a normal night.

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