England batter Jos Buttler ruled out of Pakistan white-ball tour after injury in second ODI against Sri Lanka | Cricket News

England will begin the next phase of their World Cup 50 preparations without Jos Buttler after the former captain was ruled out of their upcoming white-ball tour in Pakistan.

Buttler injured his hamstring during his matches against Sri Lanka at Headingley last week, initially pulling out injured before returning to the crease later despite being visibly hampered by injury.

He sat down on Sunday series decider at the Kia Ovalwhich England won comfortably by 223 runs, and has now been ruled out of next month’s 50-over tri-series.

It leaves England without arguably their most accomplished player in white as they look to build a squad capable of challenging for silverware in South Africa next winter, with no guarantee yet that the 36-year-old will be fit to return for the subsequent tour of Australia in November.

“Jos will not be in Pakistan,” limited-overs coach Brendon McCullum confirmed.

“We know he’s a tremendous athlete, we know he’s extremely fit and an ultra-professional, so he’ll do everything he can to get back as soon as possible, but it’s hard to judge how long it will take.

“It’s disappointing not to have Jos, but it will be good for us to see where we are. Between now and 14 months, a lot of things will go wrong, there will be a lot of selections that you think will happen and someone will get injured, or there will be a problem with the schedule.

You almost have to wreck these things a bit to prepare for that World Cup.

Damage Buttler hands opportunity to inform Cox

In the short term, this means an increased opportunity for Jordan Cox at forward. He returned to the ODI team for the first time in nearly two years against Sri Lanka and capped an impressive summer by leading England in the death overs with a fluent 76.

“I thought it was a good over from Jos Buttler,” McCullum said.

“Cox will definitely get his chance in Pakistan. He’s done very well domestically for a few years and he’s been unlucky with injuries when he’s been at the top before.

“He’s earned it. He’s well-liked in our dressing room and he seems to be one of those guys who’s good at everything he does, which can be incredibly annoying.

“He’s a good guy with a lot of track ahead of him in his career.”

England will finalize their squad for Pakistan in the next 24 hours, with Sam Curran seeking a return from a groin problem and further checks to be carried out on Adil Rashid’s bowling arm. Meanwhile, Jacob Bethell is still recovering from a knee injury.

For McCullum, there is now a short break after a roller-coaster summer. After retaining his position as England’s all-format coach after a difficult Ashes campaign, he showed a willingness to adapt his methods, strengthening his backroom staff and taking a more rigorous approach to training.

He was subsequently dropped from the Test role following the retirement of Ben Stokes and the series loss to New Zealand, but enters the winter program at the helm of an improved white-ball side that has won 11 of its last 13 matches.

McCullum’s latest challenge is to turn England into “the strongest, fastest, most dynamic and most powerful cricket team out there”, while he has also outlined plans to bolster the tour schedule with extra warm-up matches after canceling such matches during his early days in charge of the red-ball side.

Reflecting on a season of change and looking ahead to his split training partnership with new Test coach Stephen Fleming, McCullum said: “It’s been eventful. I really feel now, at the end of the summer, English cricket is certainly in a really good place.

“I enjoyed coaching all three formats. The four years I had as Test coach were some of the most enjoyable periods of my time in cricket. But things go on, times change. I think Stephen (Fleming) will do an incredible job with the Test team.

“All in all, it’s not a bad thing that it sits the way it sits now.”

England vs Sri Lanka white ball series results