Brook to replace injured Buttler as England captain for Australia ODIs

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 on Sunday.

Buttler has not played a competitive match since defending champions England lost a T20 World Cup semifinal 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 on Sunday, and the five-game ODI contest with Australia.

Speedy recovery, Jos 🙏
Go well captain Brooky 👏
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— England Cricket (@englandcricket) September 15, 2024

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 allrounder'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.