5 players who can replace Jos Buttler as England's new white ball captain

Jos Buttler: England had a miserable outing in the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 as they failed to qualify for the knockout rounds of the tournament and also failed to win a single match in the marquee ICC event of this year. Amid the team's horrible performance in the eight-team tournament, Jos Buttler made the big decision to step down from captaincy duties. 

He stepped down as the captain following his team's defeat versus South Africa in the final Group-B match of the Champions Trophy. The 34-year-old made this announcement after England's poor performance in the Champions Trophy and being eliminated from the tournament. 

Now, the question that arises is, who will replace the wicketkeeper batsman as the captain of the Three Lions in white ball cricket? Let's take a look at five players who are considered as strong contenders to replace Buttler. 

5 players who can replace Jos Buttler as the captain of England in white ball formats

Sam Curran

Fast bowling all-rounder Sam Curran can prove to be a tempting option to take over the captaincy duties of England in white ball Cricket from Buttler. He has captaincy experience with the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well as Surrey in Domestic Cricket. He played an important role in helping England lift the T20 World Cup Trophy in 2022 and with him being just 26 years old, he can prove to be a long term option for the 2019 World Cup winners. 

While he hasn't featured much in ODI Cricket in recent times, the kind of skills he possesses both as a batter & bowler are very impressive and it will be very hard for the England team management to not consider him for the leadership role. 

Harry Brook

The strongest contender to replace Jos Buttler as England's white ball captain is Harry Brook. He impressed as the stand in skipper in the five-match One Day International series against Ashes Rivals Australia in September of 2024 and while the Three Lions lost the series 3-2, Brook was the leading run scorer in the series and he also impressed a lot of Cricket experts with his leadership skills. 

However, he wasn't able to do much with the bat in the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan, and the English Team management might not want to take the risk of letting Brook's form with the bat suffer alongside the captaincy duties.

Liam Livingstone

Explosive batter Liam Livingstone was out of the team before the Australian tour, but he shone after getting a second opportunity and even captained the side in the West Indies tour. He performed well amid the persistent calf problems of Jos Buttler and in the Antigua ODI, he played a brilliant unbeaten knock of 124 runs. 

He's a really experienced player who has been in the England set up for a really long time and is a good option for the captaincy role. However, his form with the bat has been poor in the last 10 innings as he has had 8 innings where he has scored less than 15. 

Phil Salt

The most like-for-like replacement for Jos Buttler as the captain would be his teammate Phil Salt. The explosive wicketkeeper batter has been given the preference over the 34-year-old of handling the wicketkeeping duties and his ability to control the game from behind the stumps is nothing short of brilliant. 

Salt was chosen to lead the T20i side during last year's white-ball series against Australia, and he helped his team draw the series. When he led the Three in September, he said, 'Really enjoyed my first experience as a captain. ' He could mesh well with head coach Brendon McCullum and will be available for every assignment, as he is not in the Test set-up. However, his place in the team is being debated after he scored just one half-century in his last 10 white-ball matches.

Ben Stokes

Star All-Rounder Ben Stokes is the current captain of the England Cricket Team in the longest format of the game. He was ruled out of the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 after suffering a hamstring injury. His career so far has proven to be an injury-affected one, but his leadership prowess certainly makes him a potential option to become the all-format skipper of the team. 

Moreover, his partnership with Brendon McCullum led to the creation of the Bazball, which has proven to be a hit for the Three Lions in Test Cricket. With Baz also coaching the white-ball team, Stokes can certainly thrive as the full-time captain of the Three Lions.

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