Livingstone named Lancashire captain for 2023 T20 Blast
Liam Livingstone will captain Lancashire within the 2023 T20 Blast – along with his England white-ball skipper Jos Buttler within the ranks for almost all of the season.
Livingstone spent a single season as Lancashire’s all-format membership captain as a 24-year-old in 2018 however stepped down after struggling for kind because the membership had been relegated from Division One of the County Championship.
“I think I was a very different person and player back then,” Livingstone informed LancsTV. “I think my experience around the world over the last couple of years will obviously make things a little bit different for me, and we’ve got a lot of players to bounce ideas off so it certainly won’t just be me making all the decisions.
“We’ve acquired a extremely good squad. I do not assume it is too tough a job: we have got numerous expertise, we have got extra expertise coming again in – hopefully Jos within the subsequent couple of video games. I do not assume it is a tough job. We’ve acquired lots of people to bounce concepts off and hopefully the crew ought to just about captain itself anyway – it is only a few choices right here and there.”
Livingstone will deputise for membership captain Keaton Jennings, who sustained a hamstring injury while playing in the Championship last month. “Handing Liam the reins for this summer time’s Blast provides us some consistency and permits Keaton to focus totally on his restoration,” Glen Chapple, Lancashire’s head coach, said.
Lancashire played in the opening game of the Blast season against Derbyshire on Saturday, winning by four wickets. They initially named Dane Vilas as captain when announcing their squad, but left Vilas out of the side altogether to accommodate Daryl Mitchell and Colin de Grandhomme as their two overseas players and were instead led by veteran batter Steven Croft.
Buttler, Livingstone and Phil Salt all returned from the IPL this weekend but Buttler will take a short break before returning to the Lancashire set-up on June 1, when they play Yorkshire at Headingley. He is due to play 10 group games for Lancashire this season – more than he has managed across the last five years combined – as well as any knockout fixtures, having dropped out of England’s Test set-up and with no clash between the Blast and England’s white-ball fixtures this season.
“I’m actually trying ahead to pulling on the Red Rose as soon as once more and representing Lancashire Lightning on this summer time’s Vitality Blast,” Buttler stated in a press launch.
“To have the chance to play so many matches on this yr’s Blast is absolutely thrilling for me and it is an opportunity to actually assist the crew after coming so shut in final yr’s ultimate.”
Lancashire’s subsequent Blast fixture is in opposition to Leicestershire on Thursday afternoon.