Jos Buttler, captain of England’s white-ball team, appears to be experiencing a setback in his rehabilitation process as he prepares for the upcoming series of white-ball matches against their arch-rivals; Australia.
Buttler was hoping to return from a long layoff resulting from his side’s loss to India during the semi-finals of T20 World Cup 2024. However, while he was preparing himself to play The Hundred, he ended up injuring his calf and this ruled him out of participating in that tournament.
In preparing to recover for Lancashire’s quarter-final fixture against Sussex, Coach Dale Benkenstein confirmed Buttler is no part of the team and he may also miss out on the series with Australia as there are still doubts regarding his fitness.
“He had an injury he was recovering from, and he’s sort of tweaked it again. He’s not only just out of our T20s, but I think he’s even struggling to make the international ones. He was very keen to play for us,” Benkenstein told the BBC Radio Lancashire while speaking to ESPNCricinfo.
Moreover; England’s white ball sides have no vice captain like Ollie Pope in their Test team. It has been suggested that people like Phil Salt and Sam Curran are potential captains if Buttler becomes unavailable.
He can also choose not to keep wickets because of an injury in order not hinder the recovery process but also contribute with bat. The English batsman is useful in outfield as he has shown many times in Indian Premier League with Rajasthan Royals who have wicketkeeping responsibility under Sanju Samson.
In a three-match T20I series followed by five-match ODI series, England will face Australia at home. The first T20I will take place on September 11th at the Utilita Bowl, West End, Hampshire.
This is more like a testing ground for the side where they can experiment with different combinations and get invaluable match practice to help them make up their minds regarding the final squad that would travel to Pakistan for Champions Trophy 2025.
England will be looking to bounce back after a poor showing during last year’s ODI World Cup in India. Their performance left much to be desired considering that they were dubbed one of the worst campaigns ever put up by a defending champion.
