Jos Buttler will miss the ODI series against West Indies, which is due to begin in Antigua next week. Buttler sustained a calf injury while preparing for the recent season of the Hundred. The injury saw him miss his stint for the Manchester Originals in the Hundred as well as the white-ball series against Australia last month, though he was scheduled to return for the Australia series. Marcus Trescothick, England’s interim head coach, confirmed earlier that Buttler will make a comeback in the Caribbean.
“Let’s make it clear, he will come straight back in. At what position, I don’t know. We’ll look at that for the Caribbean.”
However, the England Cricket Board (ECB) recently said that the English wicket-keeper batter faced a ‘setback’ in his recovery which will render him available to play for the three-match ODI series against West Indies. The top-order batter will directly fly to Barbados ahead of the T20I series, scheduled to begin on 9th November.
England’s ongoing red-ball tour against Pakistan will end three days before the first ODI match. This means that Harry Brook and Jamie Smith will not be called in to perform the stand-in captain and wicket-keeper duties. Jordan Cox, who did not get to play any Test against Pakistan, will be added as the first-choice wicketkeeper, while Essex’s stumper, Michael Pepper has also been included.
The team will be led by Liam Livingstone, who will captain the national side for the first time. Livingstone will be the sixth player to captain the England men’s senior team this year. Ollie Pope has already captained as Ben Stokes’ surrogate as the latter recovered from his injury. Besides him, Harry Brook and Phil Salt stood in for Buttler in the recent white-ball series against Australia.
While Buttler’s prolonged time away from the team has raised several eyebrows, Brendon McCullum, who will join England’s white-ball side as a coach at the start of next year, expressed his confidence in Buttler’s ability to lead and play for the team.
“He’s an incredibly gifted player. He’s a fine leader. My job is to get the best out of him so that all those who sit in the dressing room feel like they can be ten feet tall and bulletproof when they walk out to play, and they know that the skipper is going to give them that extra pat on the back and enjoy the ride with them.”
Buttler has not played any cricket since the semi-final of the recent Men’s T20 World Cup. Buttler is deliberately giving the injury more time, to recover because it’s not the first time he has been sidelined due to this calf injury. His inclusion in the Men’s T20 World Cup in 2022 was at stake when he strained a calf before a seven-match series against Pakistan. In 2021, he missed almost the entire series against Sri Lanka due to a calf tear as well. Jos Buttler, himself, wants not to rush the rehabilitation and put his calf up for further, more serious damage.
