Discarded England white-ball allrounder Liam Livingstone has slammed the England team management, including director of cricket Rob Key and the environment under head coach Brendon McCullum, after he was dropped from their central contract list last year.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Livingstone said that he received one phone call from McCullum last May to inform him that he had been dropped from England's white-ball teams. "I don't think it [the call] would have reached a minute," said Livingstone. "I asked why; they said they wanted to try someone else. That was off Baz [Brendon McCullum]. Wrighty [Luke Wright – then England selector] didn't reach out, and Brooky [Harry Brook] sent me a text."
Livingstone also accused Rob Key of saying he had "100 more important things to do than speak to you," when Livingstone asked him about the lack of communication after he was dropped.
"Keysy said nothing - [he] said I'll speak to you in the summer," said Livingstone. "I actually rang him one day, and he said he was busy at a Test camp at Loughborough. And then I didn't hear off him until the end of September. That was a bit of an eye-opening experience about the group and the regime: if you're in, you're in, and if you're not in, no-one cares about you. That put my mind at ease that my cricket was going to be more enjoyable going forward."
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Livingstone was dropped from England's white-ball squads following their disastrous Champions Trophy campaign in early 2025. During the tournament, Livingstone made scores of nine, 14, 10 and nine with the bat, and took three wickets as England crashed out in the group stage. He alleges that during that tournament – "the worst experience I've had playing cricket" – he asked coaching staff for advice and was told "that I care too much and I need to chill out a little bit".
Having been dropped from England's summer white-ball series against West Indies, Livingstone had a successful Hundred campaign for Birmingham Phoenix. He scored 241 runs at an average of 40.16 and a strike rate of 155.48. He also averaged over 50 in the T20 Blast, and was bought for £1.06 million [INR 13 crore] by Sunrisers Hyderabad for the 2026 IPL season. However, in September he was left off England's central contract list.
Livingstone has over 100 England caps across all three formats, having earned a single Test cap in Pakistan in 2022. He was part of their title-winning 2022 T20 World Cup squads, and captain the side against West Indies less than a year before he lost his central contract.
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