England white-ball captain Jos Buttler is still unfit. His return might take a bit longer as he is not ready to play in Lancashire’s upcoming T20 Blast quarter-final contest against Sussex on Wednesday, September 4. The right-handed batter was last seen in action during the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 semi-final defeat to India.

He has been battling a calf injury, which ruled him out of The Hundred for the Manchester Originals. He was named in the white-ball teams for the Australia series at home in September.

Lancashire head coach Dale Benkenstein told BBC Radio that Buttler would not be a part of the team in the quarter-final.

“Jos Buttler was recovering, but unfortunately, he tweaked it again. He is not only out of our matches, but I think he will not be able to play international contests. He was looking forward to our matches,” he said.

England will take a call on his participation by September 8. Buttler is not expected to keep wickets against Australia, and this might ease his workload a bit. The white-ball series between England and Australia will start from September 11.

Meanwhile, England do not have an official vice-captain in white-ball formats at the moment. If Buttler fails to recover, Saam Curran and Phil Salt are the two contenders to lead the side.

Sam Curran led the Punjab Kings during Shikhar Dhawan’s absence in IPL 2024. On the other hand, Phil Salt was the captain of the Manchester Originals in Buttler’s absence in The Hundred 2024.