Jos Buttler has pulled out of Lancashire's T20 Blast quarter-final against Sussex, sparking concerns over whether he will be sufficiently recovered from his calf injury for England's T20I series against Australia.
The England white-ball captain last played professional cricket in June during the 2024 T20 World Cup. He sustained a calf injury while training following the tournament, and was subsequently ruled out of the Hundred, where he was scheduled to be playing for the Manchester Originals. However, Jos Buttler was slated to return to action for Lancashire this week, for their knockout game at Hove.
Lancashire coach Dale Benkenstein told BBC Radio Lancashire today (September 2): "We've had some bad news on his recovery. 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."
England will play their opening T20I against Australia on September 11, beginning a three-match series ahead of a five-match ODI series. It will be their first white-ball series after the departure of head coach Matthew Mott, who stepped down from the role following the T20 World Cup. Marcus Trescothick will preside over the series as interim head coach, while no permanent replacement has been named.
The England coaching staff reportedly remain hopeful that Buttler will be fit to play the opening match of the series, which will be contested by a new-look squad announced last week. Five uncapped players have been picked across both the T20I and ODI squads, while Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali have been left out. Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox, Josh Hull, Dan Mousley, Saqib Mahmood and John Turner have all been included, as well as regular faces Jofra Archer, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt and Liam Livingstone.
While England have no official white-ball vice-captain, it's likely that one of Curran or Salt will take the reigns in the event that Buttler is unavailable.
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