England’s white-ball team captain, Jos Buttler has picked a calf injury mere hours before the start of the fourth edition of the hundred-ball tournament, The Hundred. The 33-year-old was slated to lead Manchester Originals during the mentioned tournament, which, following his injury, has become a no-go area. This comes as a blow to not only Buttler but to his team and the tournament as well as the English wicket-keeper batter was the top-scorer during the previous season of the tournament.
The injury news weakens Buttler’s position as a captain as he is likely to stay sidelined for at least 6 weeks. Although the extent of the injury has not been determined yet, many believe that he will have to wait for a few months before he can don the English jersey again. England team, on the other hand, do not have that much time on their hands since their first white-ball assignment after the T20 World Cup awaits to begin against Australia on the 11th of September.
Buttler’s injury might have made the job easier for England’s managing director, Rob Key, who had been facing many questions regarding the change in England’s white-ball leadership ever since Buttler’s men lost to India in the T20 World Cup semi-final without putting up a fight. Earlier, during a virtual press conference, while announcing the squad for the Test series against West Indies, Key left the decision about Buttler’s captaincy on his to-do list.
“In terms of the T20 World Cup, we’ve sort of moved on at this point into the Test team. I am not going to rush anything on that [decision on Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott’s futures], but like we always do, we’ll start looking at what’s the best way for that white-ball team to move forward. And that will start probably in a couple of weeks’ time. All these things, when I get around to it in the next few weeks, then I’ll start working out, to be honest…The World T20 finished, we still had players out in the Caribbean. So we’ll let the dust settle on that and move forward from there.”
Many sources have also confirmed that feedback by players and backroom staff about Jos has not been positive, with many criticizing the way he has undertaken the lead role.
Even with Buttler out with the injury, England will find themselves in a rather perplexing situation. Currently, the white-ball team has no one to fill in for Buttler as a captain, especially for the long run. Moeen Ali, the vice-captain, is 37 years old and is very likely to not stick around for the next T20 World Cup in 2026. Jonny Bairstow and Sam Curran have been struggling with the form lately and England would fancy keeping Harry Brook as a red-ball asset. A lot of people vouch for Phil Salt to be ascended to the top job.
England management has a golden opportunity to observe Salt in a leadership role, as Manchester Originals will likely get him to lead the team in Buttler’s absence. But only time can tell who gets to take on that job.
