HARRY BROOK is set to captain England for the first time in the upcoming ODI series against Australia after Jos Buttler’s persistent calf injury ruled him out, the team management announced last Sunday (15).
Buttler has not played a competitive match since defending champions England lost a T20 World Cup semi-final match against India in Guyana in June. He has been now forced to miss both the drawn (1-1) three-match T20I series with Australia, which concluded last Sunday with the third game abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain, and the subsequent five game ODI contest against the same opponents.
Brook has only 15 caps in ODI cricket, but England already regard him as a future long-term leader, with the 25-year-old Yorkshire batsman having captained their youth side at the 2018 Under-19 World Cup.
He deputised as Yorkshire captain for four matches in the T20 Blast in 2022 and led Northern Superchargers in The Hundred this year. His team won five out of six completed matches with him at the helm as they narrowly missed out on the knockout stages.
Brook also served as Ollie Pope’s vice captain during England’s recent 2-1 Test series win over Sri Lanka.
His appointment as ODI captain means that England will have deployed a new skipper in all three international formats this season.
Pope took over as Test captain from Ben Stokes when the all-rounder’s hamstring injury meant he missed the whole of the Sri Lanka series, with Phil Salt leading the T20 side after Buttler was sidelined.
“It’s going to be a great opportunity for Brooky to be the captain,” Buttler told Sky Sports.
“He is a pretty laid-back character, but I think he has everything in line. He is a really good thinker about it... I’m sure he will do that his own way, and he will get a feel for those moments (in games),” he added.
Buttler, who is aiming for an England return during their November tour of the Caribbean, said of his recovery from injury: “It’s a bit slower than hoped. I’m going to be missing the ODI series as well, so that’s a shame.
But at my age, I’ve just got to make sure I get it right... There’s lots to look forward to in the future.”
After England’s woeful defences of both their ODI and T20 world titles, questions were asked over whether Buttler should continue to carry the triple burden of captaining, keeping wicket and opening the batting in white-ball internationals.
He confirmed last Sunday he would not have been behind the stumps had he been fit for the T20Is, following discussions with incoming limited-overs coach Brendon McCullum – already in charge of England’s Test side and himself a former New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman.
“Having spoken to Baz (McCullum) about it, he stumbled across it with injury preventing him from keeping wicket, but then he really enjoyed being next to the bowler at mid-off,” Buttler said.
He added: “I just want what’s best for the team – what’s best for the team is going to be me being the best captain I can be, and if I have to move from behind the wickets to do that, then so be it.”
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 quadriceps 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 the two T20Is against Australia, scoring 37 and taking 3 for 22 in the first game. Livingstone was man of the match in the second match, with the top score with 87 and 2 for 16.
The ODI series against Australia, the reigning ODI world champions, begins at Nottingham's Trent Bridge ground on Thursday (19).
