The England white ball series captain Jos Buttler had a setback in recovery from his calf injury which made him be ruled out for Lancashire’s T20 Blast quarter-final and races against time for the T20I series in Australia Tour of England 2024.
England hopes for Buttler to be fit for their first T20I match played on September 11 and remains hopeful about his availability for Australia’s white-ball tour. England’s squad is due to report at Utilita Bowl on Sunday ahead of two training days when their medical staff will get a report on Buttler’s recovery.
England white-ball teams do not have an official VC, with Sam Curran and Phil Salt to deputy the side when Jos Buttler is unavailable. He will be not keeping wicket in the T20I series which will increase his chance to feature despite suffering a setback.
Buttler has not played any cricket for the national side since their defeat against India in the semi-finals of the T20I World Cup 2024. He sustained a calf injury in July while playing for Nothern Superchargers in The Hundred 2024 competition.
He has been targeting for a comeback in the quarter-finals of T20 blast after his rehabilitation. Now, confirmed to be ruled out, his coach Dale Benkenstein confirmed the news on Radio.
“We’ve had some bad news on his recovery,” Benkenstein said. “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.”
Lancashire will be gearing up for the Wednesday clash at Hove, with Phil Salt, Liam Livingstone, and Saqib Mohamood. With the Tymal Mills set to captain Sussex, Jofra Archer is expected to make his return.
Hove hasn’t hosted a T20 quarter-final since 2019 and hence the anticipation has increased with all the tickets sold out for the past two weeks.
