Jos Buttler facing the end of his red-ball career

Jos Buttler facing the end of his Test career after being left out of the England squad for the fourth Test against India to attend the birth of his second child… with Jonny Bairstow to take keeping gloves in his absence

  • Jos Buttler has been left out of England’s squad for the fourth Test at the Oval 
  • He will be absent to attend the birth of his second child due on September 10 
  • This means he is almost certain to miss the final Test that follows at Old Trafford
  • There is a doubt as to whether he’ll play in the Ashes due to quarantine rules

Jos Buttler could be facing the end of his red-ball career after being left out of the England squad for this week’s fourth Test to be at the birth of his second child.

Buttler, who has never quite replicated his destructive white-ball form at Test level, is out of the game at the Oval that starts on Thursday and, with his baby due on September 10, almost certainly the final Test that follows at Old Trafford.

There is also a question mark over his participation in this winter’s Ashes after he became the first of what is believed to be at least 10 players considering pulling out to speak out about hard quarantine conditions in Australia.

Jos Buttler could be facing the end of his Test career after being left out of the England squad for this week’s fourth Test

There is also a question mark over his participation in this winter’s Ashes due to the hard quarantine conditions in Australia

In Buttler’s absence, the keeping gloves will return to Jonny Bairstow, who was unlucky to lose them two years ago when England decided Buttler provided the better all-round package.

‘We would like to wish Jos and his family all the very best for the impending birth of their second child,’ said England coach Chris Silverwood, who has added Kent’s Sam Billings to a 15-man squad as cover for Bairstow. ‘We’ll have to see if he returns for the final Test.

‘Jonny is relishing taking over the keeping duties. As we all know he has the skills to seamlessly take over from Jos and has the ability to score crucial middle order runs.’

In Buttler’s absence, the keeping gloves will return to Jonny Bairstow (centre) at The Oval

Both Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence, who will play in the first two days of Essex’s Championship game against Glamorgan at Cardiff that starts today, are in the squad and are competing to take Buttler’s batting place.

The most welcome addition to the squad is Chris Woakes who, for a variety of reasons, has not played a Test for a year. Woakes, whose latest setback was a heel injury, returns after gaining match practice for Warwickshire seconds and in the Twenty20 Blast quarter-final against Kent.

There is also a place in the squad for Mark Wood, who has recovered from the shoulder injury he suffered during the second Test defeat at Lord’s. Saqib Mahmood misses out.




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