London: Jos Buttler will miss England’s final Twenty20 against Australia on Tuesday having left the team’s bio-secure bubble to be with his family.
England wrapped up the best-of-three series with a game to spare on Sunday when Buttler bludgeoned an unbeaten 77 off 54 balls to guide his team home with seven balls remaining.
Buttler also made 44 in the first game but there will be a new name at the top of England’s order for the final T20 in Southampton, while Jonny Bairstow will be expected to take the gloves in the field.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed Buttler is due to return for the three-match one-day series against Australia, which starts at Old Trafford on Friday, subject to testing.
Dawid Malan, who followed up his 66 in the first T20 with another 42 on Sunday, said he is set to remain at three in the batting order meaning Tom Banton is likely to be promoted to open with Bairstow.
While Buttler’s heroics on Sunday took the headlines, Malan made another vital contribution.
In 15 T20s for England, he averages 50.84 – marginally more than Virat Kohli, who has the highest average of all-time among batsmen with at least 20 innings.
Despite that, the 33-year-old Malan – who is not centrally contracted by the ECB – still does not see himself as an established member of the England side ahead of the T20 World Cup next year.
“I don’t think I’m anywhere near as good as Virat Kohli and those guys, even though the numbers are suggesting that. Maybe if I’d played 50 games I could be compared to some extent,” he told reporters.
“All I can do is score runs, that’s as simple as it is. If I keep scoring runs at the rate I’m scoring at, hopefully it will make it hard for them to ignore what I’m doing and I can somehow find a way into that starting XI.
