England ‘left it all out there’ to avoid early T20 World Cup exit, Jos Buttler insists

After defeat to Ireland and a rained off clash with Australia, England had plenty riding on their match-up with the Black Caps in Brisbane

England had plenty riding on their match-up with the Black Caps in Brisbane (AFP via Getty Images)

Captain Jos Buttler admitted England “left it all out there” as they put their T20 World Cup campaign back on course with a crucial win over New Zealand.

After defeat to Ireland and a rained off clash with Australia, England had plenty riding on their match-up with the Black Caps in Brisbane.

Defeat would have left their hopes of a semi-final place hanging by a thread, but Buttler led the way with the bat after electing to field first, clubbing 73 off 47 balls.

A 20-run victory moves them up to second spot and with a handy net run-rate with victory over Sri Lanka on Saturday almost certain to be enough to secure a place in the last four.

“You don’t become a bad team overnight. We had one poor performance but we have some good players, some dangerous players and lots of confidence in the group too,” he said.

“I thought we came out tonight and left it all out there.”

Buttler’s innings, alongside opening partner Alex Hales (52 from 40), proved vital in providing a platform for England’s deep batting lineup to pile on the runs later on.

“It’s quite a ruthless tournament,” he added. “That’s what you expect from World Cup cricket, you expect to be under pressure and you expect that you have to win games against the best teams in the world.

“With our line-up batting deep, it allows you to take it on an over earlier than you might do otherwise.”

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson admitted his side had contributed to their own pain by twice dropping Buttler.

Williamson appeared to claim the first of those before replays showed it had squirmed free.

"I thought I'd squeezed it into my chest. It was a little bit embarrassing in the end but it was obviously going to go upstairs," he said.

"He's one of the best, if not the best, players in the game. You don't want to be doing that, if you do he's probably going to make you pay. He did that today, he made the boundaries look quite small and they're certainly not."