London: Harry Brook is set to captain England for the first time in the upcoming One Day International (ODI) series against Australia after Jos Buttler’s persistent calf injury ruled him out, team management announced Sunday.
Buttler has not played a competitive match since defending champions England lost a T20 World Cup semi-final against India in Guyana in June.
Buttler, 34, suffered a setback and has been forced to miss both the three-match T20 series, which concludes Sunday, and the five-game ODI contest with Australia.
The 25-year-old Brook has only 15 caps in ODI cricket and said during last year’s chastening World Cup campaign in India, where England endured a woeful defence of their 50-over title, he was still “trying to figure out the format”.
But England already regard the Yorkshire batsman as a future long-term leader and his appointment means they will have deployed a new skipper in all three international formats this season.
Ollie Pope took over as Test captain from Ben Stokes when the all-rounder’s hamstring injury meant he missed the three-match series against Sri Lanka, with Phil Salt leading the T20 side after Buttler was sidelined.
Josh Hull, the 20-year-old left-arm fast bowler who made his Test debut in the Sri Lanka series finale at the Oval earlier this month, had been due to be a member of the 50-over squad but has suffered a quad injury and will rest ahead of next month’s trip to Pakistan.
Liam Livingstone, initially dropped from the ODI squad, has been recalled after two notable performances in a T20 campaign against Australia level at 1-1 ahead of Sunday’s decider in Manchester.
The ODI series against Australia, the reigning 50-over world champions, begins at Nottingham’s Trent Bridge ground on Thursday.
