England Test skipper Joe Root and his deputy Jos Buttler have been roped in by Sydney Thunder for the upcoming season of the Big Bash League (BBL) in Australia. Root has not played in an overseas T20 competition before and he even went unsold in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction in January.

Buttler has played six matches for Thunder in 2017-18 and previously played for Melbourne Renegades. The 2018-19 Big Bash is scheduled to take place between 18 December and 17 February.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has given a green signal to Root and Buttler to play in the first half of the tournament as it falls between winter tours to Sri Lanka and West Indies. Root has played only 12 T20 matches since England’s defeat by West Indies in the World Twenty20 final in April 2016, with eight for his country and four for Yorkshire.

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Root was even rested for the T20 tri-series against Australia and New Zealand earlier this year and dropped for the deciding T20 against India in July. Buttler has had two stints in the Big Bash, first featuring for the Renegades in 2013-14, when he played five games with a top score of 61. He opened and kept wicket for the Thunder last season, hitting 67 and 81 during his stint before leaving to join up with England’s ODI squad.

There are no England fixtures in any format in December, with the third and final Test against Sri Lanka is scheduled to be ending on 27 November. England will tour West Indies for three Tests, five ODIs, and a T20 from January to March.

The schedule has yet to be announced but this gap in international commitments could allow Root and Buttler to play up to seven matches for the Thunder in the first half of the Big Bash. The Thunder team will be led by Shane Watson under the guidance of former New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond, who worked as a bowling consultant for England during last winter’s Ashes.