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1 September 2025, 11:11 BST
England all-rounder Jamie Overton has announced he will take an indefinite break from red-ball cricket, thus ruling himself out of this winter’s Ashes series.
Overton, 31, played in the fifth Test against India at The Oval in July but does not believe his body can sustain playing all formats.
The Surrey pace-bowling all-rounder has a history of back stress fractures which has limited him to only two Tests.
“At this stage of my career across a 12-month calendar, it is no longer possible to commit to all formats at every level, both physically and mentally,” Overton wrote on Instagram.
“Going forward my focus will be on white-ball cricket and I will continue to give everything to play at the highest level for as long as I can.”
While Overton will not have been the first name on an Ashes team-sheet, his decision is significant as he would almost certainly have been part of England’s plans for their trip to Australia.
The England hierarchy, notably coach Brendon McCullum, are admirers of Overton and his Test recall for The Oval came ahead of others, such as Durham’s Matthew Potts or Essex’s Sam Cook, who had played for England more recently.
He went wicketless in the first innings but took 2-98 in the second and had catches dropped off his bowling in an admirable effort with England a bowler down after an injury to Chris Woakes.
It is understood he had a shoulder issue in the week afterwards.
Overton, who scored 97 in his only other Test against New Zealand in 2022, is in England’s squad for the three-match one-day international series against South Africa which starts at Headingley on Tuesday.
He is also in the group to play the Proteas in the T20s that follow and England’s three-match ODI tour of Ireland from 17 September.
Stepping back from red-ball cricket will allow him to focus on adding to his six ODIs – he was part of England’s squad at the Champions Trophy earlier this year – and 12 T20s, as well as T20 franchise leagues.
He will still be in Australia this winter playing for Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League. He won the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award last season.
Woakes is also attempting to recover from his shoulder injury in time for the Ashes while Mark Wood is hoping to play for Durham this month as he returns from knee surgery.
‘No surprise but this underlines strange decision-making by England’
Analysis by chief cricket reporter Stephan Shemilt
Injuries and white-ball commitments have limited Overton to only five first-class matches in the past two years.
In that sense, a break from red-ball cricket is no surprise. He can reduce his amount of pain, lengthen his career and boost his bank balance on the franchise circuit, where he will be in big demand.
On the other hand, it is another twist in some strange decision-making by the England Test team.
Despite being around the squad for most of the summer, Overton always looked a poor pick for the final Test against India at The Oval.
His hit-the-deck style was ill-suited to the movement on offer. Though he admirably took his share of the burden when Woakes got injured, Overton managed only two wickets and contributed nine runs across two innings with the bat.
Perhaps his style of bowling would have been better suited to Australia, even if realistically he would have been quite far down the list of options. From the four frontline bowlers that played in England’s last Test before the Ashes, they have one injured pacer in Woakes and one absent from red-ball cricket in Overton.
More broadly, Overton had overtaken Potts and Cook in the pecking order, despite little evidence to suggest that should be the case. Both Potts and Cook probably have cause to feel hard done by.
England will name an Ashes squad later this month.
Fitness permitting, the five first-choice fast bowlers will be Wood, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse. They will hopefully be supported by a fully fit Ben Stokes. There is likely to be room for one more quick in the main squad, which could be a bolter like Sonny Baker. Reinforcements will be available in the Lions.
For Overton, it is likely the end of a Test career that spanned three years yet yielded only two caps.
In a quirk of fate, he and twin Craig have had separate Test careers that overlapped only once, when they were in the same squad against New Zealand at Headingley in 2022.
