Jos Buttler scored 90 off 50 balls to lead Manchester Super Giants to an 87-run win over Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred at Emirates Old Trafford on 26 July 2026.

The victory makes it two wins from two for the Super Giants in this year's competition, following a seven-run win at Lord's three days earlier. For Phoenix, it was a sharp comedown after they had won their previous match by 10 runs at Edgbaston on 24 July.

Rain shaped the day before a ball was bowled. The women's Hundred fixture scheduled for 11:00 at the same ground was abandoned without a delivery, and the men's match was delayed by 30 minutes. When play did get underway, Buttler made up for lost time.

The 35-year-old England wicketkeeper-batter — a retained player for the 2026 season, when team salary budgets rose to £880,000 — reached his fifty in 31 balls and finished with seven fours and five sixes. His 90 was the second-highest individual score in The Hundred at Old Trafford. Captain Aiden Markram and Tim Seifert were both dismissed cheaply at the top of the order, but Buttler's innings carried the home side to 187-5 from their 100 balls. For context on the format: each innings in The Hundred lasts exactly 100 deliveries, making every ball precious and high totals difficult to chase.

Phoenix never came close. They folded for 100 all out from 97 balls, still three deliveries short of their full allocation. Liam Dawson did the bulk of the damage, taking 3 for 15 with his left-arm spin. Rehan Ahmed managed 2 for 43 with the ball for Phoenix, but the chase never gathered any real traction. Donovan Ferreira top-scored for the visitors with a modest 23 off 25 balls — a reflection of how thoroughly the innings stalled.

What makes Buttler's performance stand out is the timing. He stepped down as England's white-ball captain after his side's final match of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy against South Africa. Freed from the pressures of leadership, he has quickly rediscovered the sort of destructive rhythm that made him one of the most feared batters in world cricket. This was an innings of clean, calculated hitting rather than reckless swing — the hallmark of a player who knows exactly which deliveries to punish.

For Manchester Super Giants, the start of the 2026 campaign could hardly have gone better. Two matches, two wins, and a net run rate (the tiebreaker that weighs winning margins against balls faced) that will look healthy after a victory of this scale. For Birmingham Phoenix, the challenge now is to regroup quickly. Trent Rockets had already recorded the fastest-ever victory in The Hundred against Phoenix earlier in the season, and this heavy defeat piles further pressure on a side that has now been dismantled twice in the competition.

The Hundred continues across both men's and women's brackets. Each team plays eight group matches, with the top three advancing to the knockout stages. For the Super Giants, early momentum is firmly on their side.