England’s T20 series decider against Australia has been washed out without a ball being bowled after another rainy day at Emirates Old Trafford.
The weather ruined last summer’s crucial Ashes Test between the old rivals, robbing England of the chance to regain the urn, and it was a familiar tale on Sunday after the rivals traded wins in Southampton and Cardiff.
The forecast never looked likely to allow for any meaningful play to take place and the umpires finally called the abandonment at 4.20pm – almost two hours after the scheduled start.
England’s white-ball captain Jos Buttler has missed the entire series with a calf injury and it has now been confirmed he will miss all three ODIs against Australia.
That means Harry Brook will captain his country for the first time in the Metro Bank Series. Buttler has not played a competitive match since England lost the T20 World Cup semi-final against India in Guyana at the end of June.
Having missed the Hundred, he suffered a setback in his recovery and has also been forced out of facing the Australians.
Brook has only 15 caps in ODI cricket and said during last year’s chastening World Cup campaign in India that he was still “trying to figure out the format”.
But England already view him as a major voice in the dressing and a future leader, with Brook gaining experience under Andrew Flintoff as captain of Northern Superchargers in this year’s Hundred tournament.
Brook’s appointment for matches at Trent Bridge, Headingley and Chester-le-Street also means England have blooded a new captain in each international format this summer.
Ollie Pope took the Test reins from Ben Stokes when the latter’s hamstring injury saw him miss the three-match series against Sri Lanka, and Phil Salt inherited the T20 role from Buttler for this series.
Josh Hull, the 20-year-old left-arm seamer who made his Test debut at the Oval earlier this month, had been due to be part of the 50-over squad, but has picked up a quad injury and will now rest ahead of next month’s trip to Pakistan.
Liam Livingstone, initially dropped from the ODI leg, has been called back in after two strong performances against Australia in the T20s.