Harry Brook named England’s fifth summer captain for Australia’s ODIs

Harry Brook will become England’s fifth captain of the summer when he takes the armband for the upcoming five-match one-day series against Australia. Jos Buttler has been ruled out with the same niggling right calf injury that has kept him sidelined since July.

Brook, who was Ollie Pope’s deputy for the Tests against Sri Lanka, will lead England for the first time, although he has some captaincy experience under his belt. He managed the Northern Superchargers this summer and has a handful of caps in charge of both Yorkshire and England Under-19s – with Will Jacks among his teammates.

It’s a vote of confidence from an England management keen to test their young players with managerial experience – especially as it was only last November that Brook admitted he was still learning to find the “tempo” of how he wanted to play in the 50- over cricket.

“It will be a great opportunity for Brooky to become the captain,” Buttler said. “He’s a pretty laid-back character, but I think he’s got everything lined up. He’s a really good thinker about it… I’m sure he’ll do it his own way, and he’ll get a feeling for those moments.

“That’s what we encourage everyone as a side – whether it’s a player or a captain – is to try to identify the moments that you think can go a long way to winning the game and go for it and commit to it.”

Brooks’ appointment follows a patchy season with several captains, with Buttler in charge during the T20 World Cup, Phil Salt for the recent T20 series against Australia, Ben Stokes in the Tests against the West Indies and Pope for the Test series against Sri Lanka. And it prolongs the sense that English cricket is in something of a holding pattern until Brendon McCullum adds the white-ball job to his January tour, with the Champions Trophy then coming up quickly in Pakistan in the spring. England hope Buttler, who has not played since England lost to India in the World Cup semi-final, will be fit for the Caribbean white-ball series in November.

When the final T20 against Australia at Old Trafford was washed out without a ball being bowled, persistent rain leaving huge puddles flooding the outfield and the series tied at 1-1, it was good news for Liam Livingstone, who steered England to victory with both bats and prom on Friday. Initially left out of the ODI squad, he was called up in the absence of Buttler and as Josh Hull was out with a quadriceps injury.

“It’s a reward for good performances and also dealing with the disappointment of being left out very well,” interim white ball coach Marcus Trescothick said. “The way he approached it on the back of the Hundred, since the build-up between the Hundred and this series, he’s done what you want him to do.”

Trescothick was also enthusiastic about working with Brook. “We’ve seen him in the hundreds, and I think you can see how he does it. I don’t think it’s going to be much different from what we’ve had here when Phil did the job … they come from the shape of what we trying to do – which is a positive style of cricket.” The ODI series starts at Trent Bridge on Thursday … autumn permitting.