Jos Buttler ruled out of ODI tri-series in Pakistan with hamstring injury

Seasoned English batter Jos Buttler has been ruled out of the upcoming ODI tri-series in Pakistan with a hamstring injury he sustained midway through the second ODI against Sri Lanka at Headingley last Thursday. The latest injury also casts doubts over his participation in the white-ball series in Australia that follows. England white-ball head coach Brendon McCullum has handpicked Jordan Cox to replace Buttler with the gloves and in the middle order for England ODIs and T20Is for the next two months.

Buttler pulled up his hamstring in England’s defeat in the second One-Dayer. Having retired hurt earlier, Buttler returned to resume his innings but failed to guide his team across the winning line. Although the ECB awaits the extent of his injury, McCullum wasted no time in revealing that Buttler would likely miss England’s next two white-ball assignments in October and November.

"I thought it was quite a Jos Buttler innings today," McCullum said of Cox's 76 off 52 balls at The Oval in the final ODI, which England won by 223 runs to claim the three-match series 2-1.

"He will get the opportunity in Pakistan, which is exciting for him. Whilst it's disappointing not to have Jos, it's going to be good for us to see where we're at, because between now and 14 months' time, lots of things are going to go wrong.

"There's going to be lots of selections that you think would happen, and teams that you think will be the best teams to play against opposition, but someone will get injured, or there'll be a scheduling situation. You have to almost catastrophise these things a little bit in order to prepare yourself as best as possible for that World Cup in 14 months' time,” the head coach noted.

Happy with the squad depth despite missing several first-team players out with respective injuries, including Jacob Bethell (knee), Sam Curran (groin), Adil Rashid (hand) and Buttler (hamstring), McCullum said, "Whilst you don't want those injuries to happen, it does give you a good line on where you're at with some of the depth in your squad.”

Meanwhile, Sunday’s ODI at The Oval brought England’s home season to a close, which McCullum called ‘eventful’. Barring the Test series loss to New Zealand at home, which also coincided with Ben Stokes’ international retirement, England tasted success against Pakistan in the Test series and Sri Lanka in the white-ball leg.

"It's been eventful, but it's been a great summer in many respects," he said. "I genuinely feel right now, at the end of the summer, that English cricket is actually in a really good place. I'm biased because he's a great mate of mine, but I think he's a great coach and he's going to do an incredible job alongside Joe Root, in Stephen Fleming, [who is] now at the helm of the Test side.

"And the performances and development of the ODI and T20 sides across the summer has been something which has been incredibly encouraging. Harry Brook's development as a leader on the field and his growth as a person off it has been superb, and overall, I feel as if while it's been an eventful few months, I feel like [English cricket] is in a really good space,” McCullum concluded.

England will select their squad for the Pakistan tri-series on Monday (Sep 28), and announce it publicly later this week. England’s first match of the series will be against Pakistan in Rawalpindi on October 20.