Facts verified across PA/Yahoo, The Cricket Paper, and Wisden — squads were announced today, 13 October 2026. Article below.
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Jacob Bethell will return to international cricket for England’s white-ball tour of Australia next month, three months after knee surgery, while 18-year-old Somerset wicketkeeper-batter Thomas Rew and Hampshire seamer Eddie Jack have been handed their first senior call-ups.
England named 16-man squads for both the three-match ODI series and the five-match T20 series on Tuesday, with Harry Brook captaining in both formats. The tour opens with the first ODI in Perth on 13 November and closes with the final T20 in Canberra on 2 December — a week before England’s warm-up fixture in South Africa ahead of a three-Test series.
Bethell and Archer return to a near-full-strength ODI group
Bethell has not played since injuring his knee in July and subsequently going under the knife. The Warwickshire left-hander, who was fast-tracked into England’s Test side before he had scored a first-class century, is included in both squads and is expected to resume his place at the top of the order.
Jofra Archer also returns to the ODI squad after a scheduled rest period, giving England close to their strongest 50-over group. Gus Atkinson, Sonny Baker and Josh Tongue join Archer in the ODI squad, with Joe Root, Ben Duckett, Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson all retained.
“The returns of Jacob Bethell and Jofra Archer for the ODI series means that we will be at close to full strength as we ramp up preparations for a World Cup in a year’s time,” national selector Marcus North said.
Jos Buttler remains unavailable after hamstring surgery, having announced his own absence on social media. Phil Salt returns to the T20 squad having recovered from a quad problem, while Luke Wood comes in for Saqib Mahmood, who has a knee injury. Leg-spinner Mason Crane misses out, with James Coles retained among the T20 spin options.
Rew’s rapid rise and a maiden call for Jack
The T20 squad is where England have made their boldest moves. Archer, Atkinson, Baker, Tongue and Duckett are all absent from the shorter format, rested with the South Africa Test tour immediately behind it — and that has opened the door for Rew and Jack.
Rew’s 2026 has been remarkable by any measure. He made 127 not out from 151 balls in just his second County Championship appearance in June, then followed it with a century in his next match. He captained England Under-19s and scored a hundred in the World Cup semi-final against Australia. Across four first-class matches he averages 68; his List A average is 44 and his T20 strike rate 153. He received a maiden ECB development contract on Monday, 24 hours before the squads were announced.
He turns 19 on 29 November, which means that if he plays in any of the first three T20s he will become only the third 18-year-old to represent England in men’s international cricket — after Brian Close in 1949 and Rehan Ahmed in 2022 — and the youngest England player to face Australia.
“Thomas Rew is an amazing young talent,” North said. “He has a great maturity around him for an 18-year-old.”
There is a family dimension too. Rew’s older brother James, also a Somerset wicketkeeper-batter, made his Test debut earlier this year but managed scores of 24 and 15 and had a difficult time behind the stumps. The younger brother has now moved ahead of him in England’s keeping order.
Jack, 21, is one of only three specialist fast bowlers in the T20 squad and also received a development contract on Monday. Both players toured Australia with the England Lions last winter, where Rew made a half-century against the senior side in an Ashes warm-up — conditions and opposition that will not be entirely unfamiliar.
A squeezed schedule and an eye on 2027
The split in approach across the two squads is a direct consequence of the calendar. England are prioritising the ODI series as the most meaningful preparation available before the 2027 World Cup in southern Africa, while treating the T20 leg as both a rest window for the frontline quicks and an audition for the next generation.
That is a shift from the recent past, when England’s white-ball rebuild was often reactive — reaching for experience after poor results rather than building depth in advance. Selecting an 18-year-old keeper and an uncapped 21-year-old seamer for a five-match series in Australia is a calculated risk taken from a position of strength rather than necessity.
North framed it as exactly that. “It’s a fantastic position to be in,” he said of the competition for places. “It’s a nice problem to have.”
Whether Rew and Jack get on the field remains to be seen. But with a World Cup 12 months away and an Ashes tour beyond it, England have made clear that the pipeline is being tested now rather than later.
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**Word count:** 730 (article body text)
Sources used for verification:
– [Bethell returns as England call up youngsters Jack and Rew — Yahoo Sports/PA](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/bethell-returns-england-call-youngsters-100030836.html)
– [England name white-ball squads for Australia tour — The Cricket Paper](https://www.thecricketpaper.com/england-name-white-ball-squads-for-australia-tour-with-thomas-rew-and-eddie-jack-included)
– [Thomas Rew leapfrogs brother James — Wisden](https://wisden.com/cricket-news/teenage-prodigy-thomas-rew-leapfrogs-brother-james-rew-in-england-keeper-standings-with-maiden-international-call-up)
One flag: the “replacing Ben Duckett as opener” line appeared in one source but Duckett is named in the ODI squad, so I phrased Bethell’s role as “expected to resume his place at the top of the order” rather than asserting a specific XI change.
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