Blow for England: Jos Buttler ruled out of West Indies ODIs, Liam Livingstone named captain

England National Cricket Team have suffered a massive blow ahead of the ODI series against the West Indies National Cricket Team. Skipper Jos Buttler has been ruled out of the series due to a calf injury and will be joining the team in the five-match T20I series.

England National Cricket Team are all set to tour West Indies for the white-ball series. The tour will begin with the three-match ODI series to be played from 31st October to 6th November. After that the two teams will be locking horns with each other in the five-match T20I series, to be played from 9th November to 17th November.

Jos Buttler will be missing the ODI series due to a setback in his recovery from a calf injury. The keeper-batter suffered the injury ahead of The Hundred 2024 and since then has been out of action, missing the white-ball series against the Australia National Cricket Team with a calf tear.

Buttler was initially named in the squad for the tour of the Caribbean. But has been asked forced to withdraw from the ODIs. But the reports claimed that the keeper-batter will be fit for the five-match T20I series between the teams.

Liam Livingstone will be captaining the team in the ODI series.

In absence of Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone will be captaining the team in the ODI series. This will be the first time that the all-rounder will be captaining the England National Cricket Team across formats. He has captaincy experience with Lancashire and would be keen to carry on the confidence on the international stage.

England and Wales Cricket Board are yet to decide if they have to name a replacement for Jos Buttler or not. Releasing the official statement, the governing body stated: “A decision on whether to add a replacement player to the squad is still to be decided”. But latter named the replacement.

Michael Pepper added into England squad in place of Jos Buttler

In place of Jos Buttler, the England and Wales Cricket Board has added young Essex batter Michael Pepper to the team. He got selected into the team after his staggering performance in the 2024 Vitality Blast. He slammed 535 runs in 13 innings at an average of 44.58 and a strike rate of 193.84.

The hard-hitting batter made himself a name after he hit 32 sixes in a domestic T20 competition. In the County Championship, he slammed 523 runs at 43.58, hitting both his maiden First-Class and T20 hundreds too.

England's updated squad for the white-ball tour to West Indies

Here's England's updated squad for the white-ball tour to West Indies

Jos Buttler (T20I series only), Jofra Archer, Jacob Bethell, Jafer Chohan, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Dan Mousley, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, John Turner, Michael Pepper

Two further players will be added to the Test squad currently in Pakistan.

Liam Livingstone will be leading the young team in the ODI series against the West Indies National Cricket Team. With 81 international games under his belt, he is the third most experienced player in the team behind spinner Adil Rashid and all-rounder Sam Curran.