WICKETKEEPER Jos Buttler will miss England’s 50-over tri-series in Pakistan next month, with Jordan Cox set to be given another chance to impress in his place.
Buttler, 36, has been ruled out with the hamstring injury suffered while batting in Thursday’s second one-day international against Sri Lanka at Headingley.
Coach Brendon McCullum said it is “hard to judge” how long Buttler will be out for and confirmed Cox will take his place for the series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which begins on 20 October.
“We know Jos is an incredible athlete, we know he is supremely fit and is an ultra-professional,” McCullum said.
“He will do everything he can to be back as soon as possible.”
England also tour Australia for white-ball matches in November – where they are considering playing warm-up matches – as they look to add to their six series wins in limited-overs cricket this year and build towards next year’s 50-over World Cup.
They will finalise their squads on Monday with the latest batch of central contracts also set to be announced in the coming days.
Durham opener Emilio Gay is in line for a first deal after his debut Test summer, putting him in line to tour South Africa this winter, while Cox, Tom Banton, who scored his first international century on Sunday, and all-rounder Dan Lawrence could also feature.
Contracts held by former captain Ben Stokes and Mark Wood are set to end after their international retirements. Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley, Matthew Potts and Luke Wood are all out of favour and their one-year deals are due to run out.
Spinner Shoaib Bashir is another intriguing name in that category. He played two Tests against New Zealand and was picked in the Test squad to play Pakistan but did not make an XI as England preferred a four-man pace attack.