England to include rising star Bethell in revamped white-ball squad

Jacob Bethell, the Warwickshire all-rounder, is one of several new names set to be announced in England’s white-ball squads to play against Australia next month as part of a revamp of the limited-overs side.
Immediately after the Test series against Sri Lanka, the two teams will play three T20 matches and five one-day internationals. The selectors are expected to move on from the teams that crashed out of last year’s 50-over World Cup and had a disappointing T20 World Cup in June, which led to Matthew Mott’s departure as head coach last month.
Marcus Trescothick is in temporary charge of the team for the series while the ECB searches for a permanent replacement for Mott, but Jos Buttler has retained the captaincy. The selectors are now planning for the next ICC global tournaments, starting with the Champions Trophy in February and March 2025 and then a T20 World Cup in India in 2026.
Jamie Smith, England’s Test wicketkeeper, is expected to be named in the squads but is likely to miss the start and end of the series because the Sri Lanka Test series does not finish until September 10 and the squad then travels to Pakistan at the end of that month. He is likely to play as a specialist batsman, with Buttler retaining the gloves. Phil Salt is another wicketkeeping option but Jonny Bairstow, who was dropped from the Test team at the start of summer, is also likely to be left out despite being on a central contract.
Harry Brook and Joe Root, the other multiformat players who are involved in the present Test series, have been given the option of taking a break before the Pakistan tour. Brook is expected to play in some of the matches against Australia but, like Smith, will miss the start and end of the series.
Bethell, 20, has been on England’s radar for years. He played in the Under-19 World Cup in 2022 and has represented the Lions. Born in Barbados, he moved to England at the age of 13 to attend Rugby School and made his Warwickshire debut in 2021. He is a big-hitting middle-order batsman who bowls left-arm spin and was one of the leading runscorers for Birmingham Phoenix in this year’s Hundred. Bethell has been tipped for a bright international future by Ian Bell, the former England batsman who is one of Phoenix’s assistant coaches.
Bethell’s Warwickshire and Phoenix team-mate Dan Mousley could be another new face in the side after also impressing the selectors in both the Hundred and for the Lions. Mousley is West Midlands born and bred and is an aggressive left-handed batsman who bowls right-arm off spin.
There will be some familiar faces in the squad, including Sam Curran, Reece Topley, Salt, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan (T20 only), Luke Wood and Jofra Archer. The Sussex fast bowler has played short-form cricket all summer, after recovering from a persistent issue with his right elbow, but is not expected to play any Test cricket until at least next summer.
The Lancashire seamer Saqib Mahmood is also in line for a recall after being absent from England duty since the tour to Bangladesh in March 2023. The 27-year-old missed all of last summer with a back stress fracture but has returned this summer and seems back to his best playing for Oval Invincibles in the Hundred.
Tom Hartley, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid will provide spin options and England may decide to give the Leicestershire spinner Rehan Ahmed another go, with the 20-year-old having not played for England since the tour to West Indies last December.
England v AustraliaSept 11 First T20, SouthamptonSept 13 Second T20, CardiffSept 15 Third T20, Old Trafford
Sept 19 First ODI, Trent BridgeSept 21 Second ODI, HeadingleySept 24 Third ODI, Chester-le-StreetSept 27 Fourth ODI, Lord’sSept 29 Fifth ODI, Bristol