LONDON, Sept 15 (AFP): 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.
He has been now forced to miss both a three-match T20 series with Australia, which concludes Sunday, and the subsequent five-game ODI contest with England's arch-rivals.
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, winning five out of six completed matches 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 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'll do that his own way, and he'll get a feel for those moments (in games)."
Buttler, 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 50-over 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.
England ODI squad to play Australia: Harry Brook (captain), Jofra Archer, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Reece Topley, John Turner.
