Liam Livingstone to lead England in ODI series against West Indies as Buttler suffers yet another setback in calf injury recovery - Reports
All-rounder Liam Livingstone has reportedly been named England captain for the three-match ODI series against the West Indies away from home, beginning from Thursday, October 31 onwards. White-ball skipper Jos Buttler is expected to join the squad ahead of the five-match T20I series, which commences from November 10.
Buttler's last on-field involvement remains the 2024 T20 World Cup semi-final against India on June 27. He suffered the calf injury while preparing for The Hundred 2024 with the Northern Superchargers. Since then, he was ruled out of the franchise-based competition, and went on to miss the entire home white-ball series against Australia.
In Buttler's absence back then, it was Harry Brook and Phil Salt, who had led the ODI squad and the T20 squad, respectively. However, with the Caribbean tour scheduled between England's Test series against Pakistan and New Zealand, Brook will not be available to partake and lead in the white-ball tour.
According to a report by The Telegraph, Livingstone secured the role over Phil Salt, since the latter is still trying to find his place in the ODI squad. After making a blistering start to his ODI career, the opening batter's numbers have dipped. He has recorded only one fifty in his last 17 innings, and scored 96 runs in the five-match series against Australia, which included an eight-ball duck in the third ODI.
The new skipper, on the other hand, had a prolific white-ball home series against Australia, and claimed the No.1 spot in the T20I all-rounders ranking in the process.
Livingstone is out to make a case for his selection in the Champions Trophy squad, and made a strong impression with his quickfire fifty in the mammoth win over the rivals at Lord's. As far as his leadership credentials are concerned, he was Lancashire's captain in the 2018 season, and was named skipper for the 2023 T20 Blast as well, where he guided the side to the quarter-final before being eliminated by Surrey.
England name Michael Pepper as Jos Buttler's replacement for West Indies ODIs
England named a common 14-man squad for the West Indies tour, with two more players expected to join the squad from the red-ball contingent involved in the three-match series in Pakistan.
With Buttler ruled out, England need a wicket-keeper batter as a replacement, despite having Salt as a candidate. 26-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Michael Pepper has been handed his maiden national call-up and will join the squad as Buttler's replacement for the three-match ODI series. The Essex player had a stellar Vitality T20 Blast campaign recently, amassing 535 runs in 13 innings at an average of 44.58 and a strike rate of 193.84.
The squad also features uncapped players like Jafer Chohan, Dan Mousley, and John Turner as England look to find the right combination before Brendon McCullum takes over as white-ball coach in January.