Interim England captain Moeen Ali says Jos Buttler is unlikely to feature on their tour of Pakistan, as he works to be fit for the T20 World Cup next month.
Buttler succeeded Eoin Morgan as England's white-ball skipper earlier this year following the latter's retirement, having played a pivotal role in their 2019 World Cup success in the fifty-over game.
But a recurrence of a long-standing calf issue while playing in The Hundred has left him nursing a knock just weeks away from the start of this year's short-form tournament in Australia.
England will warm up with a mammoth seven-match series over the next fortnight against Pakistan, with Moeen handed the armband in Buttler's stead, and he has now revealed that he does not know if his team-mate will figure.
"We're not sure," he stated. "He did his calf in The Hundred. He's done it before, so he's just [being] a bit more careful. Maybe at the back end of the tour, he will play one or two games, but we're not sure yet.
"It depends on how he feels. Obviously, with the World Cup in Australia, he's huge for us, and we want him fully fit for the whole competition.
"There won't be any risking him. He will decide if he is going to play in maybe the last one or two games."
England's trip to Pakistan marks a historic series and a particularly special one for Moeen, who is of Pakistani descent, as he gets to lead out the side.
"With my roots being from here and to lead England in such a big and historic series, it's huge," he added. "It's a very proud moment for me and my family, my mum and dad and everybody.
"Of course my family are very happy and my friends and my community, and everybody who I feel like I represent they’re very happy for me. Captaining England in any game anywhere in the world is a huge honour."
England follow their tour of Pakistan with a trio of warm-up games against Australia, before they get their campaign underway against Afghanistan in Perth on October 22.
Chandimal and Karunaratne hand Sri Lanka comfortable advantage
Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne forged a 147-run partnership to propel hosts Sri Lanka to a lead of 202 on day three of the first Test against New Zealand.
Chandimal (61) and Karunaratne (83) notched 12 fours between them, having seen Pathum Nissanka (two) fall inside the first two overs to Will O'Rourke (3-37).
New Zealand resumed on 255-4 but were restricted to adding just 95 runs to their overnight total, with Prabath Jayasuriya (4-136) starring for the hosts.
Nissanka's early dismissal handed the tourists a lifeline, only for Chandimal and Karunaratne to take centre stage and increase Sri Lanka's advantage.
Karunaratne's innings came to an end after being bowled out by Ajaz Patel (1-68), with Chandimal following his partner in the following over.
However, steadying knocks from both Angelo Mathews (34 not out) and Dhananjaya de Silva (34 not out) saw the Lions inch toward their hard-earned lead at stumps.
Data Debrief: Double trouble for Sri Lanka
Chandimal and Karunaratne took the fight to New Zealand, with their respective innings coming to a close with impressive numbers to show for it.
Karunaratne ended with a strike rate of 65.35 from the 127 deliveries he faced, while Chandimal finished on 40.67 having batted against 23 more balls than his team-mate.
Bumrah reaches landmark wicket milestone in ruthless India display
Jasprit Bumrah reached 400 international wickets for India as the hosts concluded day two of their Test match with a 308-run lead against Bangladesh.
Bumrah ended the contest with 4-50 as India ripped through the tourists' batting order before ending their second innings at 81-3 at stumps.
Bangladesh started the day positively, restricting their opponents to adding just 37 runs to their overnight score, with Hasan Mahmud (5-83) doing most of the damage.
However, the tourists' first innings started poorly as Shadman Islam (two), Zakir Hasan (three) and Monimul Haque (zero) fell inside the first eight overs.
Bangladesh found themselves 92-7 within 30 overs with Ravindra Jadeja (2-19) and Bumrah ripping through their middle order.
Mohammed Siraj concluded a dominant bowling display with the wicket of Nahid Rana (11), as India returned to the crease to hammer home their advantage.
Shubman Gill (33 not out) and Rishabh Pant (12 not out) will resume play on day three, with the hosts now in a commanding position to claim the triumph.
Data Debrief: Bumrah joins elite club
Bumrah was the pick of the bunch for the hosts with his four-wicket haul putting him among the elite bowlers in Indian cricket.
He became only the 10th Indian bowler to reach 400 international wickets, while his bowling average of 21 is the second-best among all bowlers to have hit this milestone in men's cricket (Joel Garner - 20.2).
Falcons win incident-filled clash with TKR to keep slim play-off hopes alive
Another intriguing match full of incident in Port of Spain saw the previous evening’s winners, Trinbago Knight Riders lose to Antigua & Barbuda Falcons by six wickets with an over to spare.
The win sees the Falcons keep their slim chances of progression alive and also gave them double bragging rights over the Knight Riders in this year’s Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
The Falcons won the toss and chose to field first, canny bowling restricted the Knight Riders to a below par 134-8, Kieron Pollard's 37-ball 47 giving the home side a shot in the arm on a dewy night that made run scoring quite tricky. Last evening’s man of the hour Tim David chipped in with 25 off 20 balls to help haul his side to a competitive total.
Justin Greaves then played a Player of the Match innings to give the Falcons their third victory in this year’s competition. Compiling a patient 46 off 48 balls he then retired himself at the death to allow a fresh, and bigger hitting teammate to finish the job. The somewhat risky decision ultimately paid off for the visitors.
Hassan Khan played a vital cameo with 36 off 20 deliveries and Imad Wasim was there at the end to see his side home in an eventful 19th over – in shades of the 2019 World Cup final - a deflection off the bat as the batter’s returned for the second run saw the ball run over the boundary rope and six runs awarded to the batting side. Eighteen runs were plundered off the Josh Little over in total with Fabian Allen nudging the winning runs to midwicket to seal the victory and keep the Falcons flying in this year’s CPL.
“To win at Queen's Park Oval is a special thing” said a beaming Greaves in the moments after the match. “We haven't had a great season but to beat TKR twice is good. We’re just happy with how things panned out. To get the win against Trinidad in Trinidad, their fortress, feels good. We have to take one game at a time. You never know..."
The Knight Riders finish the evening still in second position in the table and the Falcons ended it with a little hope that they could still salvage something from their 2024 CPL campaign.
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