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Cricket fans are hailing England's Jos Buttler as the best Twenty20 batsman on the planet after an extraordinary display for England in their 26-run victory over Sri Lanka.

Buttler's magnificent century (101 off 67 balls) - completed with a six off the last ball of the innings - helped England make it four wins from four after a 26-run against the Sri Lankans.

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Sri Lanka became the first team to stretch England, restricting their powerful batting line-up for the first half of their innings and making a spirited attempt at overhauling England's 4-163.

Wanindu Hasaranga, following up a superb bowling spell, led the counter-attack but his side ultimate fell short as England all nut secured a semi-finals spot.

At the heart of it was Buttler, whose exhibition of big-hitting saw him complete a special milestone by scoring his first T20i century - meaning he's now scored hundreds in all formats of international cricket for England.

Having reached 50 in a relatively sedate 45 balls, Buttler took just 22 more balls to get to his maiden T20i century.

“I’m really pleased to keep a calm head and work through it, back myself to come good at the end and start to target certain bowlers and at certain ends,” Buttler told Sky Sports.

“I felt like I used a lot of my experience. I remember saying a while ago, if I can put both parts of my game together then I think I’ll be getting in a really good place with my T20 batting.”

Aussie Test great Shane Warne led the praise for Buttler, describing the England opener as the "best ever" limited overs batsman the country has ever seen.

Other fans flooded social media to hail the England man as the best T20 batsman in the world right now.

Buttler belted six fours and six sixes in the stunning knock, combining with captain Eoin Morgan (40 runs) for a 112-run stand after England slumped to 3-53.

"I found it tough early on, the spinners were especially tricky with that low bounce, at one time we thought 120 would be a good score," Buttler said.

"But I'm really please I l kept my head, stayed patient and backed myself to catch up. I felt I used a lot of experience."

The only negative note for England captain Morgan, who returned to form with his 36-ball 40, was a soft-tissue injury to Tymal Mills which forced the left-arm quick off midway through his spell.

Put into bat for the first time, and on the low Sharjah wicket, England's batters discovered it was a very different game.

At the end of the power play against Australia on Saturday in Dubai they were 0-66. At the end of the first six overs this time they were 3-36 with Jason Roy, Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow out.

With Morgan struggling against the spinners Buttler consolidated and the pair added just 11 runs from the next four overs reaching the mid-point 3-47.

Then England stepped on the gas. In the last 60 balls they added 116.

Amid the carnage Hasaranga bowled beautifully to take 3-21 off four overs and Maheesh Theekshana's mystery spin conceded 13 off his four.

Sri Lanka made a bad start when Morgan and Buttler combined again to run out Nissanka off the third ball. Wickets continued to fall regularly and when Dasun Shanaka and Hasaranga came together in the 11th over Sri Lanka were 5-76.

The pair added 53 in under six overs but just as it seemed the chase was on both perished in successive balls to stunning fielding and Sri Lanka folded.

Jason Roy and substitute Sam Billings - on for Mills - combined on the boundary to catch Hasaranga for 34 off 21. Next ball Buttler ran out Shanaka for 26 off 24.

It was soon all over with Sri Lanka's last five wickets going for eight runs in 14 balls.

Only South Africa and Australia can match England's eight points but they already have the cushion of a far superior run rate to their rivals.

with AAP

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