England will begin the next phase of their preparations for the 50-over World Cup without Jos Buttler after the former captain was ruled out of their upcoming white-ball tour of Pakistan. Buttler injured his hamstring during his innings against Sri Lanka at Headingley last week, initially retiring hurt before returning to the crease later on despite being visibly hampered by the injury. He sat out Sunday's series decider at the Kia Oval, which England won comfortably by 223 runs, and has now been ruled out of next month's 50-over tri-series.

That leaves England without arguably their most accomplished white-ball player as they look to build a side capable of challenging for silverware in southern Africa next winter, with no guarantee yet that the 36-year-old will be fit to return for the subsequent tour of Australia in November.

In the short term, that means an extended opportunity for Jordan Cox as the wicketkeeper-batter. He returned to the ODI side for the first time in nearly two years against Sri Lanka and capped an impressive summer by steering England through the death overs with a fluent 76. Cox will definitely get the opportunity in Pakistan.