England news – Jos Buttler in doubt for Australia T20Is after Blast quarter-final exit

England are not overly concerned about Buttler’s fitness ahead of their first T20I on September 11 and remain hopeful that he will captain the side during Australia’s eight-match white-ball tour. A new-look England squad should report to the Utilita Bowl on Sunday ahead of two days of training, when their medical staff will get a clearer picture of whether Buttler will be available.

But now he has been ruled out of contention, as their coach Dale Benkenstein confirmed to BBC Radio Lancashire. “We had bad news about his recovery,” Benkenstein said. “He had an injury that he was recovering from, and he has recovered. Not only did he come out of our T20s, but I think he is struggling even to play international games. He was very eager to play for us.”

Lancashire will have some of their England players available on Wednesday night in Hove, with Salt, Liam Livingstone and Saqib Mahmood all included. Jofra Archer is expected to play for Sussex, whose T20 team is managed by Tymal Mills. Hove has not hosted a T20 quarter-final in front of a home crowd since 2019, and tickets sold out two weeks ago.