England suffer major injury blow ahead of tri-series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka

England won't have the luxury of resting on the experienced shoulders of Jos Buttler when they tour Pakistan for a tri-nation series in October involving Sri Lanka as the third team.

Buttler has been ruled out of the white-ball contest with a left hamstring injury he picked up while running between the wickets during the second ODI between England and Sri Lanka at Headingley in Leeds. The tri-series involving Pakistan, England and Sri Lanka gets underway on October 18 and will conclude with the final on October 31. 

The former England captain is also in doubt for the subsequent white-ball tour of Australia. Buttler's absence will present an opportunity for Jordan Cox, who was the spare wicketkeeper in England's squad during the ODI series against Sri Lanka at home. Cox is expected to take up the wicketkeeping duties, and it will give the England team management an opportunity to test their bench strength ahead of the ODI World Cup.

Cox played a fluent knock of 76 off just 52 balls while batting at No. 5 in the series decider against Sri Lanka at The Oval in London on September 27. His innings helped England post an imposing total of 355 on the board, and they bowled Sri Lanka out for just 132 in 29.1 overs.

England white-ball head coach Brendon McCullum heaped praise on Cox after his knock and labelled it Buttleresque. 

"I thought it was quite a Jos Buttler innings today," McCullum was quoted as saying by Cricinfo after the series win over Sri Lanka at The Oval. "He will get the opportunity in Pakistan, which is exciting for him. Whilst it's disappointing not to have Jos, it's going to be good for us to see where we're at, because between now and 14 months' time, lots of things are going to go wrong.

"There's going to be lots of selections that you think would happen, and teams that you think will be the best teams to play against opposition, but someone will get injured or there'll be a scheduling situation. You have to almost catastrophise these things a little bit in order to prepare yourself as best as possible for that World Cup in 14 months' time."

ODI Tri-series schedule