England’s white-ball captain Jos Buttler might take a little longer to come back as he is not fit enough to play in Lancashire’s next T20 Blast quarter-final against Sussex on Wednesday, September 4. The last time he played was during the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-final loss to India at Guyana.
He has been nursing a calf injury since then which kept him out through The Hundred 2024 for the whole Manchester Originals. His name appeared in two white ball sides that faced Australia at home in September with the recovery schedule indicating that he will be fit by that time.
Yet, according to BBC Radio Lancashire, Dale Benkenstein, head coach of Lancashire has confirmed that Buttler will miss the quarter final match. This would have been the best time for him to play again after being out for long.
“We’ve had some bad news on his recovery. He had an injury he was recovering from, and he’s sort of tweaked it again. He’s not only just out of our T20s, but I think he’s even struggling to make the international ones. He was very keen to play for us,” he said.
However, an injury is not a major concern for England according to a report by ESPNCricinfo. It is hoped that by this time on Sunday September 8th when the team convenes a clearer picture can be seen about his double muscle-strain.
So far as Buttler is concerned, in this series he won’t be performing wicket-keeping duties thus that part of his job could skip out during the final assessment prior declaring him fit or unfit.On September 11th these two opposing sides will begin their white-ball series.
It is unclear who will take on the leadership role for England while Buttler is absent
Currently, there is no official vice-captain of England’s white-ball squad. In the event that Buttler does not recover on time, either Sam Curran or Phil Salt might be leading a reformation of a new team which has some new figures like Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox and Dan Mousley among others.
Phil Salt recently captained the Manchester Originals in Buttler’s absence during The Hundred 2024, but the team ended up seventh in the points table. Additionally, Sam Curran has experience as a captain, having filled in for the injured Shikhar Dhawan for most of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season with the Punjab Kings (PBKS).
