Liam Livingstone Commits to Lancashire with T20-Only Deal

The new T20 Blast contract which Liam Livingstone signed with Lancashire will keep him with the team for three years but it will end his first-class cricket career. 

He spent the past three years on an ECB central contract, but that deal expired in October. England has not selected him for any matches since the Champions Trophy which took place in March. The club will pay for his salary again because he signed a contract that extends to the end of the 2028 season.

Livingstone has not officially retired from first-class cricket. His new contract permits him to play only for T20 Blast matches but he will not participate in County Championship matches during the upcoming summer season. He will spend the first two months of the English season representing Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL which further reduces his red-ball chances.

Earlier in his career Livingstone demonstrated strong potential as a red-ball cricket player. He scored twin first-class hundreds for England Lions against Sri Lanka A during the 2016-17 winter. He accumulated runs in the County Championship while playing for Lancashire and he joined the England squad for the 2017-18 New Zealand tour but he did not participate in any matches.

His white-ball cricket skills experienced rapid growth after the Covid-19 pandemic. His progress through the IPL helped him gain white-ball opportunities with England which restricted his red-ball cricket chances. The England Test team used him as a wildcard allrounder when Brendon McCullum gave him his first Test match against Pakistan in December 2022. He has not participated in first-class cricket since he sustained a knee injury during the match.

Livingstone played a key role in Lancashire's T20 Blast Finals Day success during the previous year. Somerset defeated them in the semi-finals while multiple England players were unavailable for selection.

Livingstone said: "I'm obviously very happy. I've loved my time playing here. I've obviously been here for a number of years now. This was my club growing up, so it's nice to commit another three years. I'm looking forward to what we've got to come. It feels like we're building some nice momentum in T20 cricket. Lancashire is my club. I've been here for a number of years. This is the one place, throughout the year, that feels like home. It's probably, over the last few years, been my most enjoyable cricket as well."

He has become one of four men’s pre-signings for London Spirit before next month’s Hundred auction. He dedicated five complete seasons to Birmingham Phoenix before joining the team.