Jos Buttler uses abusive language to sledge Vernon Philander, faces ire of fans - Watch

England wicket-keeper Jos Buttler faced a lot of flak for directing abuses at Vernon Philander in the garb of sledging during the second Test match at Cape Town. It was a tight contest which England won as an inspired spell by Ben Stokes bowled out South Africa for 248.

However, this came after South Africa’s batsmen dug in and put a price tag of their wicket. It was a superb rearguard action by the batsmen and England were made to earn every wicket. Philander too played his part as he frustrated England with a fighting 51-ball 8 runs and Buttler’s reaction was his frustration spilling over.

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The stump microphone picked the wicket-keeper calling Vernon Philander a ‘f***ing k***head’ as tension mounted with England chasing victory.

Philander drove a pitched-up ball to mid-off where Joe Root dived a made a superb stop. He then hurled a throw back at Buttler even as Philander stepped away. This drew the ire of the wicket-keeper who started hurling profanities at the batsman.

Sky Sports’ commentator Michael Atherton apologized for any offense caused, with Buttler also heard telling Philander it was hard for the ball to ‘get past that f***ing gut’.

South Africa pacer Dale Steyn retweeted the video of the aforementioned incident, and captioned it: “Well, that was loud and clear.”

Joe Root, the England captain, tried to play down the incident and said that ill-feeling would not sour relations between both teams.

“I don’t think it was anything serious,” Root said. “It was just two guys playing hard Test cricket. Emotions were running quite high and I don’t think anyone overstepped the mark. You want a bit of spice on the TV anyway, don’t you?”