The ECB has announced a 14-member England squad for West Indies ODIs which will be led by Liam Livingstone starting on October 31.
Jos Buttler will be missing the upcoming tour of the ODI series and will be joining the upcoming tour of the Caribbean for the T20 series only as he completes his recovery from a calf injury.
“Liam Livingstone will step in as captain for the ODI series with the Lancashire all-rounder set to lead England for the first time whilst Jos Buttler continues his recovery from injury,” read the statement.
The Lancashire all-rounder is set to lead England for the first time while uncapped Essex Wk-batter Michael Pepper has been added to the squad. Pepper was Essex’s leading run scorer in the Vitality Blast 2024 scoring 535 runs in 13 innings at an average of 44.58 with a striker rate of 193.84.
Speedy recovery, Jos 🤞
A new captain for West Indies ODIs 🙌
Latest squad updates here 👇https://t.co/aUjgWjgs6a#EnglandCricket pic.twitter.com/gvVeNeueq0— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 21, 2024
England’s squad has been stretched due to overlapping Test tours in Pakistan and New Zealand leaving them key leadership options like Harry Brook, who captained the ODI team against Australia and Ben Duckett both committed to test duties.
As a result, Livingstone has been handed the captaincy over Phil Salt, who previously led the T20 side against Australia but is still gaining experience in ODI cricket.
He hit 32 sixes in this year’s T20 competition, the most of any batter and also added 523 runs at Vitality County Championship runs at 43.58 hitting both maiden FC and T20 hundreds.
The three-match ODI series will begin with a day-night fixtures at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on October 31 in Antigua.
England squad for West Indies ODIs: Liam Livingstone (Lancashire, captain), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire), Jafer Chohan (Yorkshire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Will Jacks (Surrey), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Dan Mousley (Warwickshire), Jamie Overton (Surrey), Michael Pepper (Essex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Phil Salt (Lancashire), Reece Topley (Surrey), John Turner (Hampshire).
