England all-rounder Liam Livingstone has accused England's head coach Brendon McCullum and ECB's managing director Rob Key of disrespect and poor communication.
Livingstone has fallen out of selection reckoning since March 2025 and is not hopeful returning to international cricket under the current management.
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, the 32-year-old opened up on receiving a call from McCullum in May 2025 when he was informed about his snub from the West Indies series. The cricketer said the call barely lasted a minute.
“I asked why [I was dropped]. They said they wanted to try someone else. That was off Baz. Wrighty [outgoing selector Luke Wright] didn’t reach out, and Brooky [captain Harry Brook] sent me a text," Livingstone was quoted as saying.
“That probably sums that group up as a collective. Keysy [Rob Key] 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 from 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," he added.
Livingstone claimed that during his struggles in India last year, he was told by McCullum to "chill out" and that he "cared too much", rather than receiving specific technical or tactical guidance.
“I was asking for help, and pretty much all I got was that I care too much and I need to chill out a little bit, and everything will take care of itself," Livingstone said.
“When things don’t go right, of course, you’re going to care; if I didn’t care, then I probably wouldn’t want to play the sport. I thought I had a really good summer, leading into the winter when we went to the West Indies. Obviously, things didn’t go well in India and Pakistan, but they weren’t going well for anyone," he remarked.
Another factor that frustrated the English all-rounder was the constant shift in his batting position.
“One of my frustrations with playing for England was that whenever I went up the order, I did really well. And then the big boys would come back, and I was always back down at No. 7."
“At the end of the day, I don’t want to be someone that’s a sixth bowler and batting at No. 7. I feel like it’s a waste of my talent, but that’s only my opinion," he stated.
Liam Livingstone was overlooked for the T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka. However, he didn’t feel like missing out on anything.
“I didn’t miss it one bit," he said. “There wasn’t any part of me that was wishing I was playing in that team, to be honest."
Livingstone, who will play for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the upcoming IPL season, wants to produce his best in the cash-rich league as he knows only the weight of runs can help him regain place in the England team.
“Hopefully, I can have a season like the season I had in my first year at Punjab [Kings, in 2022] where I felt like I was playing really well and won loads of games from No. 4," he said. “[The IPL] is a very different experience to anything else throughout the year – it’s a long time away from home – but if you give it everything you’ve got, it can repay you very nicely."
