Jos Buttler ruled out of England’s Pakistan white-ball tour

England will begin their World Cup preparations without Jos Buttler, who has been ruled out of the white-ball tour of Pakistan.

Buttler suffered a hamstring injury during his innings against Sri Lanka at Headingley last week, initially retiring hurt before returning to the crease despite the setback. He missed Sunday’s series decider at the Kia Oval, which England won by 223 runs, and has now been ruled out of next month’s 50-over tri-series.

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The absence of Buttler, England’s most accomplished white-ball player, leaves a significant gap as they aim to challenge for silverware in southern Africa next winter. There is no certainty on his return for the Australia tour in November. “Jos won’t be in Pakistan,” confirmed limited-overs coach Brendon McCullum.

“We know he’s an incredible athlete, supremely fit and ultra-professional, so he’ll do everything he can to return as soon as possible, but it’s hard to judge the timeline. It’s disappointing not to have Jos, but it will be good for us to see where we’re at. Between now and 14 months’ time, things will go wrong, selections will be made, someone might get injured, or there could be scheduling issues. You almost have to catastrophise these things to prepare for the World Cup.”

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Buttler absence boosts Cox’s Pakistan prospects

In the short term, wicketkeeper-batter Jordan Cox will get an extended opportunity. He returned to the ODI side for the first time in nearly two years against Sri Lanka and capped an impressive summer with a fluent 76 steering England through the death overs. McCullum said, “I thought that was quite a Jos Buttler innings.” Cox will definitely get the opportunity in Pakistan. He’s done really well domestically for years and has been unlucky with injuries when on the cusp previously. He’s deserved it, very well liked in the dressing room, and good at whatever he does, which can be incredibly annoying. He’s a good lad with a huge amount of runway in front of him.

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England are set to finalise their squad for Pakistan within 24 hours, with Sam Curran pushing for a return after a groin problem and further checks on Adil Rashid’s bowling hand. Jacob Bethell is still recovering from a knee injury.

For McCullum, a short break follows a rollercoaster summer. Retained as all-format head coach after a difficult Ashes campaign, he adapted his methods, bolstered his backroom staff, and took a more rigorous approach to training. He was later removed from the Test role after Ben Stokes’ retirement and the series defeat by New Zealand, but enters the winter programme in charge of an improving white-ball side that has won 11 of its last 13 matches.

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McCullum’s latest challenge is to turn England into “the fittest, fastest, most dynamic and robust cricket team out there”, while he has outlined plans to bolster the touring schedule with additional warm-up matches after scrapping such fixtures during his early days in charge of the red-ball side. Reflecting on a season of change and looking ahead to his split coaching partnership with new Test head coach Stephen Fleming, McCullum said: “It’s been eventful. I genuinely feel right now, at the end of the summer, English cricket is certainly in a really good place. I loved coaching all three formats. The four years I had as Test coach were one of the most enjoyable periods of my time in cricket. But things move on, times change. I think Stephen [Fleming] will do an unbelievable job with the Test side. Overall, it’s no bad thing that it sits the way it sits now.”

England vs Sri Lanka white-ball series results

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