Jos Buttler targeting Lancashire's T20 Blast quarter-final for injury comeback
England white-ball captain has not featured since T20 World Cup due to calf injury
Matt Roller25-Aug-2024Jos Buttler is targeting Lancashire’s T20 Blast quarter-final at Sussex for his comeback from the calf injury which ruled him out of the Hundred.Buttler, who has not played since the T20 World Cup, has been backed to continue as England’s white-ball captain by managing director Rob Key after Matthew Mott lost his job as head coach. He will work alongside interim coach Marcus Trescothick – his former Somerset team-mate – during September’s T20I and ODI series against Australia.After sustaining a calf injury while preparing for the Hundred, Buttler has returned to training and has been working with England physio Craig de Weymarn in Bristol. “Another good session in the bank,” he wrote on Instagram this week, adding in another post: “Picking up injuries as a professional sportsman is always frustrating and I was gutted to miss the Hundred this year.”
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Buttler has not featured for Lancashire this year but is in contention for their quarter-final at Hove on September 4, pending a late fitness test. Sussex, who were led to a second-placed finish in the South Group by Tymal Mills, are expected to have Jofra Archer available, who could open the bowling to his England captain.Lancashire are in a battle to avoid relegation to the County Championship’s second tier and won two out of eight games in the Metro Bank Cup, so are hoping to save their season by reaching Finals Day of the T20 Blast.”That’s looking really positive,” Dale Benkenstein, their coach, told ESPNcricinfo on Sunday. “We should have everyone fit for the quarter-finals. Jos has been doing a lot of rehab. I’ve been in contact with him and he’s very keen to play. We are happy to leave it down to the last day.”He’ll do a fitness test on the Monday, just before the game and with the England physios and everyone giving him the green light, then he’ll play. We are very keen that if he’s fit and ready to go then he’ll be playing.”Saqib Mahmood and Phil Salt were rested from Lancashire’s Championship defeat to Surrey this week but are expected to be available for the T20 quarter-final, as is Liam Livingstone. Chris Green will be at the Caribbean Premier League but Ireland’s George Dockrell will deputise for him.Saqib Mahmood was not risked at The Oval•Getty ImagesMahmood was not risked at The Oval as Lancashire look to manage his workload following two injury-ruined summers. “It was too much of a risk,” Benkenstein said. Salt missed out with “a bit of a dodgy back” and is unlikely to feature against Hampshire next week.”The four-day [competition] has been really tough for us,” Benkenstein said. “We’re still hanging in there. But the T20 was something where we didn’t think we had the best team: we were missing a lot of players and that was a real positive that we won five out of our first six games in the beginning, with a lot of guys not there.”Now we’re getting to the knockout stages, we should have our full-strength team which gives us the best chance. It is important for us. You come into a season wanting to win everything, and we’ve got a chance of winning, getting to Finals Day, and then you’re two games away. That’s what we are hoping for.”Buttler and other players named in England’s T20 squad will not be available for Finals Day on September 14, which is sandwiched between the second and third T20Is against Australia.