Jos Buttler plays the long game to help England into a strong position

Jos Buttler played the long game to help England into a position from which they will hope to seal a 2-0 series win over Pakistan.

After sharing a 359-run stand with double centurion Zak Crawley, Buttler admitted that in a normal summer it is his destructive white-ball batting that develops his confidence but a diet of Test matches had forced him to search elsewhere for the tempo required to hit a career-best 152 at the Ageas Bowl.

‘If I look at my game, Test cricket would be number three in terms of my strengths, and certainly in previous years I have taken a lot of confidence from scoring runs in white-ball cricket. That has served me well.

Jos Buttler and Zak Crawley’s 352 partnership has put England in a commanding position

Buttler had to look elsewhere for inspiration after a summer without white ball cricket

‘So I was just trying to make it last as long as possible. It felt really good out there, so I just wanted to keep going,’ the wicketkeeper-batsman said of his 311-ball innings.

‘Knowing the position we were in this series, if we could pile on some first-innings runs and bat for as long as possible it would take the option of Pakistan winning this game and levelling the series away.’

By the close of play on the second evening, Azhar Ali’s side were 24 for three courtesy of Jimmy Anderson’s triple strike, still 360 runs shy of avoiding the follow-on.

Of Kent batsman Crawley’s stunning 267, Buttler added: ‘It was a pleasure to watch. He had shots all around the wicket, off the front and back foot, and he looked incredibly tough to bowl to. I haven’t seen many guys hit the ball as hard as he does. He smacks it.’