Jos Buttler ruled out of Oval decider, Lawrence gets ODI call-up

Jordan Cox is likely to take his place and keep wicket in Sunday's ODI series finale against Sri Lanka at The Oval. Jos Buttler has been ruled out of the match. Dan Lawrence, who has not yet won a white-ball international cap, has been added to the team as cover.

In Thursday's second one-day international at Headingley, Buttler pulled up with a left hamstring injury while running between the wickets. England physio Steve Haw, a new recruit from Exeter Chiefs, treated him. He faced two more balls before retiring hurt, and briefly hobbled back to the middle before holing out as England slipped to a 16-run defeat.

Although Buttler's injury will be a concern, his final score of 69 was his highest in ODIs in three years. He is 36 years old and has suffered a number of soft-tissue injuries recently. These have mainly been calf injuries, but he also suffered a similar left-hamstring issue during the 2024 IPL season.

Although England do not yet know the extent of Buttler's injury, they anticipate receiving additional information early next week following his MRI scan.

In Buttler's absence, Cox is likely to win only his fourth ODI cap on Sunday and is expected to take the gloves ahead of Tom Banton. Kevin Pietersen, England's new white-ball mentor, said on Thursday night that opportunities available through injuries would help build depth ahead of next year's World Cup.

"[We need to] have certain players in certain positions, in order for us to know that if something like this happens to Jos in, say, the final round of whatever game in South Africa, and you've got to go and play a quarter-final, that somebody can step up into Jos's boots - like we're going to need to have on Sunday," Pietersen said.

Lawrence, who scored six hundred on Thursday and had three half-centuries in four innings during England's recent Test series victory over Pakistan, has been dropped from Surrey's County Championship match at Somerset. On Saturday, he will participate in ODI squad training at The Oval.

Lawrence was called up to England's ODI squad to play Pakistan in 2021 when their first-choice team went into Covid isolation. However, he did not play a game in the series. He has only played 28 List A games in his career, the most recent of them in May 2019.