Several axed England players have criticised the side's leadership following the decision to retain both Rob Key and Brendon McCullum at the conclusion of the ECB's Ashes review.
The criticism launched at the set-up has been broad, including on communication from both McCullum and Key after players are dropped, as well as selection policy. Speaking earlier this week, Key said England had "over-valued loyalty"' in the build-up to the Ashes series which had created “a lack of consequence really for substandard performance”.
Following their Ashes review, both Key and ECB chief executive Richard Gould acknowledged the need to re-build bridges with counties. That will include hiring a new national selector to lead a 'county insight group' which will provide insights to the selection panel.
Nevertheless, the rumblings of grievances from those in the county game have been made public as England look to turn over anew for the start of the season. Those axes have confirmed the feeling that the England side over the previous few years has been seen as a closed group.
Livingstone: 'If you're not in, no-one cares about you'
The interview which started the rumblings came from Liam Livingstone. He told ESPNcricinfo of the call in which Brendon McCullum told him he was dropped from England's white-ball squads last year: "I don't think it [the call] would have reached a minute... That probably sums that group up as a collective. Keysy said nothing - [he] said I'll speak to you in the summer. 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."
Of that call in September, Livingstone said Key told him he had "100 more important things to do than speak to you".
Livingstone was dropped from England's white-ball squads after the 2025 Champions Trophy, describing that tournament as "the worst experience I've had playing cricket".
In response to Livingstone's interview, Key insisted that Livingstone would continue to be considered for selection, and denied the claim that the team was a closed shop.
Burns: 'All you've got to do is play a couple of shots on Instagram'
Speaking at Surrey's pre-season media day, former England opener Rory Burns responded to whether the pathways to England selection were clear to county players. "If you're still banging down the door, all of a sudden, your name is going to crop up in selection," he said. "You might not feel like you're there as a player but if you keep churning out numbers, at some stage, you're going to be unavoidable.
"On the flip side, it's probably quite a cool thing because even if you don't think you're in the conversation, all you've got to do is have a couple of innings - and play a couple of shots on Instagram now - and then you're right in the conversation."
Surrey head coach Gareth Batty said the lines from county cricket to England selection had been "misted over" under the current leadership.
Bairstow: 'You need to put the care back into the game'
Jonny Bairstow, who last played for England in 2024 said that England team management "needed to put the care back into the game".
Speaking to BBC Sport, he said: "If you are in the system, you are in the system. As soon as you are out of the system, you are out of the system."
Robinson: 'Maybe you’re not good enough to play international cricket'
Ollie Robinson, who dropped from England's Test side at the beginning of the 2024 summer, having been a crucial part of the early successes under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, painted a slightly different picture. “There has to be a bit of realism, a bit of reality, that maybe you’re not good enough to play international cricket,” he said.
“As much as there's a disconnect, I also feel like that's used by county cricketers as an excuse because they aren't in. You still have to score runs and take wickets to get in. I know from my point of view, I used it as an excuse for the first few years that I couldn't get in.”
Nevertheless, Robinson's account of his own axing echoed that of Livingstone. “I was just left out of the next series and told I had to go and rack up games of cricket and take wickets, and that was it really.”
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