Jos Buttler ruled out of Pakistan tour with hamstring injury

Jos Buttler will miss England’s ODI tri-series in Pakistan next month with a hamstring injury and is a significant doubt for the subsequent white-ball tour to Australia, ESPNcricinfo reports.

The former captain injured his hamstring mid-innings during England’s defeat to Sri Lanka at Headingley, retiring hurt before briefly returning to the crease, PA reports. He sat out Sunday’s Metro Bank ODI series decider at the Kia Oval, which England won by 223 runs, and has been told he will not be fit for the 50-over tri-series in Pakistan, where England will play either four or five ODIs alongside the hosts and Sri Lanka.

“Jos won’t be in Pakistan,” limited-overs coach Brendon McCullum confirmed, adding that the 36-year-old’s recovery was hard to judge: “It’s disappointing not to have Jos but it will be good for us to see where we’re at. Between now and 14 months’ time lots of things will go wrong… You almost have to catastrophise these things a little to prepare yourself for that World Cup.”

In Buttler’s absence, Jordan Cox gets an extended chance as wicketkeeper-batter after a fluent 76 in the decider. England were also missing Jacob Bethell (knee), Sam Curran (groin) and Adil Rashid (hand) at The Oval. The squad for Pakistan will be finalised this week, with Curran pushing to return.