Rob Key hits back at Liam’s viral outburst: ‘No reason Livingstone’s England career is over’

ECB’s managing director, Robert Key, has hit back at out-of-favour England all-rounder, Liam Livingstone, whose viral outburst over his selection conundrum made headlines earlier. Key, who retained his place on Monday (Mar 23) alongside head coach Brendon McCullum and Test captain Ben Stokes, said that, at 32, Liam’s England career is far from over, and that he remains in England’s white-ball scheme with the next year’s ODI World Cup looming.

Livingstone, who hasn’t played for England since last year’s Champions Trophy, accused Key and the board’s key decision-makers of ‘avoiding difficult conversations’ following minimal contact before his central contract expired, further claiming that Key told him he had ‘100 more important things to do’ than speaking with him about his England selection chances.

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Meanwhile, without spilling too many beans about their private chat, a part of which Livingstone detailed to everyone about, Key admitted that the selectors considered the hard-hitting all-rounder for the away Sri Lanka series, and that he hopes to see Liam return to his playing best.

"Look, I'm not going to go into private conversations," Key said in a chat with Sky Sports News. "Obviously, there's another side to that conversation as I saw it. What I did say to Liam at the end of what was a fairly tetchy phone call to say the least [was that] there's no way I see a player of Liam Livingstone's ability not being up for selection for England.

"We debated him for the Sri Lanka series. Liam Livingstone is very much a player that we would love to see back to his best, scoring runs, and then back in the England set-up.

"We thought as much of him [as] to make him captain at one stage, when we didn't have all the senior players there," Key added, referring to an ODI series against West Indies in late 2024. “That's how highly we thought of him. I still have a huge amount of time for Liam Livingstone, and there's no [reason] that someone at 32's England career should be over.”

‘You cannot keep everyone happy’

Speaking of his role within England Cricket, Key said he holds a position where he cannot keep everyone happy, and that someone is always going to get upset. Shedding light on Liam’s claims, "If you're in, you're in, and if you're not in, no one cares about you," referring to the ECB’s approach, Key said,

"You're always going to have times where, unfortunately, in these roles - especially when you're struggling - you're always going to have people that you've upset along the way coming back at you, and that's absolutely fine.

"You can't do these jobs keeping absolutely everyone happy, whether you're the coach of England, whether you're in my role, any role of leadership, you're always going to have people who are upset, and that's part of life. But ultimately, Liam Livingstone, or any of these players at the start of the summer in county cricket, they're a chance to play for England,” he continued.

Meanwhile, Livingstone is the defending IPL champion (with the RCB), who will now represent SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2026. Liam could be seen in action in the season opener against the RCB at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 28.