Sunday, December 22, 2024

England v Australia: Harry Brook to captain in ODIs, Jos Buttler out injured

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Harry Brook will captain England in their one-day international series against Australia after Jos Buttler was ruled out through injury.

A right calf issue forced Buttler, 34, to miss the T20 series as well as The Hundred and he has not recovered sufficiently to feature in the five-match 50-over series.

Left-arm seamer Josh Hull has also been withdrawn from the ODI squad because of a quad injury.

All-rounder Liam Livingstone, who starred in England’s win over Australia in the second T20 at Cardiff, has been added to the 15-man squad.

The first ODI takes place at Trent Bridge on Thursday, 19 September.

Buttler’s injury gives Brook, who only made his ODI debut 18 months ago, the opportunity to captain England for the first time.

The 25-year-old has impressed in his short international career to date but arguably more so in Test and T20 cricket rather than the one-day format, in which he averages 29.07 in 15 innings.

However, he skippered Northern Superchargers in The Hundred this summer and, having been touted as a future England captain, admitted he has been paying close attention to the leadership style of Test captain Ben Stokes.

“I’ve played with Stokesy quite a bit now and, watching the way he goes about it, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t take a few learnings from him,” Brook said.

Phil Salt, who captained England in the T20 matches against Australia, is also in the squad.

Meanwhile, Hull misses out after making his Test debut in the defeat by Sri Lanka at The Oval but his injury is not thought to be serious enough to make him a doubt for October’s tour of Pakistan.

England will again be led by interim coach Marcus Trescothick for the ODI series, with Brendon McCullum not taking over the white-ball duties until January.

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