England allrounder Jamie Overton has taken himself out of contention for this winter’s Ashes series, a sudden move announced on Monday that took even the country's limited-overs captain by surprise.

The pace bowler won his second test cap against India at the Oval last month and had a strong chance of featuring in the squad for the trip to Australia. But Overton has decided to take an indefinite break from red-ball cricket.

The selectors will need to look elsewhere after he shared his decision to focus exclusively on white-ball opportunities.

“After a great deal of thought I have decided to take an indefinite break from red-ball cricket," Overton posted on social media.

“At this stage of my career, with the demands of cricket across a 12-month calendar, it’s no longer possible to commit fully to all formats at every level, both physically and mentally.”

Overton stopped short of declaring his retirement from first-class cricket but, at the age of 31, it looks unlikely he will be back in the test reckoning.

England white-ball captain Harry Brook, speaking ahead of the first ODI against South Africa at Headingley on Tuesday, said he was "a little bit shocked to be honest.

“I’d heard rumors but I hadn’t heard it from him until today,” Brook said.

“You’ve just got to respect the decision and he obviously doesn’t feel like he wants to play red-ball cricket at the minute and we can’t do anything about it. It’s unfortunate, I thought he did really well in that last test match and it would have been nice to have him there in the Ashes."