- Harry Brook is gearing up for his first series as England’s new white-ball captain
- Liam Livingstone has been dropped while former skipper Jos Buttler returns
- Tom Hartley and Luke Wood return in the one-day and T20 squads respectively
Liam Livingstone’s international career appears to be over after he was axed by England for the second time in nine months on Tuesday.
Livingstone, 31, was the victim of a woeful start to 2025 comprising 10 defeats in 11 limited-overs matches when the first squads under England’s new white-ball captain Harry Brook were announced.
Among the players to face West Indies in twin three-game series starting later this month are Hampshire veteran Liam Dawson following a near three-year absence and Lancashire duo Tom Hartley and Luke Wood, both of whom won their most recent caps in 2023.
But their county colleague Livingstone – whose turbulent recent past saw him omitted from the one-day series versus Australia at the end of the 2024 summer and dramatically captain the team six weeks later in the Caribbean – has paid the price for a poor winter.
Wearing the armband in Jos Buttler’s absence last November, he struck a stunning unbeaten 124 to hurtle England to a 329-target in Antigua, and his three sixes in four balls were credited for setting up the single victory in eight attempts in India, but a collection of just 33 runs in three innings at the Champions Trophy was most telling.
England have selected an alternative spin bowling all-rounder in Surrey’s Will Jacks for both squads plus slow left armer Dawson, county cricket’s reigning player of the year, as a T20 specialist.
England have axed Liam Livingstone for their twin limited-overs series against West Indies
It marks the second time in nine months that Livingstone, 31, has been dropped by England
The ODI and T20 series against West Indies will be Harry Brook’s first tests as England captain
The start of a new era under Brook represents a time to build a team for global events in each of the next two years: the T20 World Cup is just nine months away, while the 50-over version follows in 2027.
One complication for England is this Saturday’s resumption of the Indian Premier League and a new schedule that has seen its final pushed back to June 3, the date of the third and final ODI against the Windies.
Of the five players this effects, those with franchises who are contesting knock-out places – former England captain Buttler, Jacks and Jacob Bethell at Gujarat, Mumbai and Bangalore respectively – are expected to return to India later this week, but not out-stay the original dates on their No Objection Certificates. Jamie Overton and Jofra Archer are likely to remain here.
Meanwhile, Mark Wood is using his latest stretch on the sidelines to follow Jimmy Anderson as a bowling consultant, joining the coaching staff of a County Select XI, captained by Michael Atherton’s son Josh de Caires, that takes on Zimbabwe in a pre-Test warm-up in Leicester from Thursday.
