England’s white-ball captain, Jos Buttler, is set to miss out on the ODI home series against Australia owing to the calf injury he picked during the training for the Hundred a few weeks ago. Buttler was added to the squad, keeping the prospects of his participation in grey. However, with the ODI series starting in a few days, England have announced the young batter Harry Brook as his stand-in captain. Brook, who debuted in the ODI format in January last year, will be captaining the senior team for the first time.
Having captained the Under-19 team during the 2018 Under-19 World Cup, Harry Brook was always counted as the one for the future of England’s captaincy. While Phil Salt, who captained England during the recent three-match T20I series against Australia, is also a part of the ODI squad, the English management deemed it appropriate for Brook to lead rather than him. Talking about the news, Buttler expressed his optimism at the 25-year-old’s promotion as a captain.
“It’s going to be a great opportunity for Brooky to be the captain,” Buttler told the media
“He is a pretty laid-back character, but I think he has everything in line. He is a really good thinker about it… I’m sure he’ll do that his own way, and he’ll get a feel for those moments. That’s what we’re encouraging everyone as a side – whether that’s a player or a captain – is to try and identify those moments that you think can go a long way to you winning the game and going for it and committing to it.”
This ODI series will be the first time England will play the 50-over format after around 10 months. With the upcoming Champions Trophy in Pakistan to be played in the same format, Buttler would obviously find it disappointing to miss these games. However, he expressed that he is complacent with the way his recovery is going.
“It’s a bit slower than hoped. I’m going to be missing the ODI series as well, so that’s a shame. But at my age, just got to make sure I get it right. It’s obviously a shame to miss some cricket and stuff, but I just want to get it right. There’s lots to look forward to in the future. Injuries force you to stop and take a different perspective and it’s nice to be around the guys, getting to know some new faces and seeing what they’re all about; trying to share my ideas and listen to theirs and how they operate and building those relationships, which are obviously really important.”
Buttler also mentioned that he might not have kept the wickets even if he had recovered from the injury for the white-ball series as he deems his role as a captain more important.
Having spoken to Baz about it, he stumbled across it with injury preventing him from keeping wicket, but then he really enjoyed being next to the bowler at mid-off,” Buttler mentioned
“I’m very open to those kind of things. I just want what’s best for the team: what’s best for the team is going to be me being the best captain I can be, and if I have to move from behind the wickets to do that then so be it.”
The One-day International series will begin on September 19th in Nottingham. The T20I series was leveled after the third T20I in Manchester was washed out.
England’s squad for the ODI series against Australia:
Harry Brook (capt), Jofra Archer, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Reece Topley, John Turner.
