England avoided a whitewash in the three-match ODI series at Trent Bridge last night, thanks to a spirited performance that owed much to the work of Jos Buttler with the bat in the final stages of the hosts’ fifty overs.
"I got a good opportunity with a license at the end of the innings to go out and express myself,” he said.
“The pitch was a little bit slower than expected but we got to a good score and defended it well, it's nice to contribute to a winning performance and hopefully there are many more to come."
Captain Alastair Cook was keen to praise his side’s performance under the Trent Bridge floodlights, especially those batsmen who changed the match in their favour.
“Getting a win was very important and I thought we played pretty well,” said Cook.
“We haven't quite got it right in this series, we've been operating at about 75%.”
He added: “Today we showed a lot of character and the different balance of the side worked well. We're very lucky to have two very good spinners and they could operate together.”
“Jos' knock was the difference between the sides and it was great to see Ravi play well too."
Cook’s bowlers found the most resistance in the second innings coming through the stubborn Ross Taylor, whose half-century threatened to derail England’s attack.
"We lost a lot of wickets in the middle here, we gave ourselves a chance but England were too good for us on the day,” he said.
“When you give people like Morgan and Buttler an opportunity, they showed what powerful hitters they are.
“We got off to a good start, but we kept losing wickets at crucial times - maybe if we were only five down at the powerplay, we could have had a chance,” added Taylor.
“In the Champions Trophy, any team can win on their day, and getting Broad and Finn back helped England. But we'll take the 2-1 series victory and hopefully take the momentum into the Champions Trophy."