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Liam Livingstone: 'It's me who's got to want me and love me'

Liam Livingstone will captain England in Antigua in Jos Buttler's absence Getty Images

Liam, it's your turn.

When Liam Livingstone walks out for the toss in Antigua, he will be the sixth player to captain England this year.

Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope have led the Test team. Jos Buttler and Phil Salt the T20, then Harry Brook and now Livingstone the ODI.

It is a remarkable turnaround for Livingstone, who just six weeks ago had been left out of the initial ODI squad against Australia.

"The phone call when I got dropped was literally 30 seconds long," explained Livingstone. "They said they wanted to try some new faces."

But one recurring Jos Buttler calf injury later and Rob Key wanted Livingstone back. You can't blame him, we've all broken up with people too soon at some stage.

"That was fine, I'd struggled for a while," Livingstone says of the initial decision to leave him out. At that stage, he hadn't made an ODI half-century in 11 matches.

"I guess the only thing I really questioned was the responsibility I'd been given in the two years prior to that.

"I sat down with Keysy, had a really honest chat, said how I felt and that I felt I deserved a little bit more of an opportunity and basically had three games to go and do that in the T20 series against Australia."

In the two completed T20s against Australia, Livingstone made 37 and 87 as well as taking five wickets. Performances that lifted him to being the No.1 T20 ranked all-rounder in the world.

He then played in all five ODIs and thrashed 62 not out from 27 deliveries in a must-win match at Lord's.

He had proved his initial point, that he deserved to play. And he now has the opportunity to prove his second point, that he deserves more responsibility.

In his 30 ODIs to date, Livingstone has batted above No.6 only twice. Similarly, his mix of offies and leggies have only ever been required to bowl a full ten overs on two occasions.

He has been England's Swiss Army knife cricketer. Capable of doing anything, but more often than not left in the drawer unused.

But now he's captain, he has the chance to elevate himself up the order and confirmed he will bat at No.5 for the series.

"I'll wicket-keep if I can," Livingstone joked of the extra roles he'll be giving himself now he's skipper.

"I always feel like I've done well in environments where I feel wanted and loved. And in this environment I don't really have a choice because it's me who's got to want me and love me."

Livingstone's position in the team is arguably more precarious than most. He is a known quantity who has been given what he's asked for in terms of extra responsibility, and with several first-choice players absent, is one of few players on this tour genuinely playing for a spot in the Champions Trophy. With the greatest respect to Michael Pepper, Jamie Smith is guaranteed to replace him whenever he's available. But whether Livingstone keeps his place is up to him.

"It's something I've wanted for a while but I also understand it's not exactly easy to get that," Livingstone said. "I realise everything is set up in a way to build a team; it's not all about me. Just like the young boys, I'll be getting an opportunity to showcase what I can do this week.

"There's many people in the world who have been dropped before, so I guess the resilience I've shown in the summer is something I'll look back on as being really proud of when I finish my career."

Livingstone has spent the last six months fully fit, which is something he hadn't been able to say for almost a year-and-a-half. Playing pain-free cricket has led to the smile returning to his face, which, in his opinion, has unsurprisingly led to a return in form.

"Midway through the Hundred I feel like I've worked something out with my batting, I've been pain-free and that's probably the biggest part for me. Playing with a smile on my face, no real niggles and I feel like I played really well through the Hundred and into the England stuff.

"That's the exciting bit for me, I'm in the position to really impact games."

Livingstone will have two of his good mates in Phil Salt and Sam Curran to lean over the course of the series. There has been no official vice-captain announced, but Salt is one of the five other England skippers of 2024 and Curran could consider himself unlucky to not currently be in Livingstone's shoes himself, after he was the vice-captain on this same tour last year.

"I'll use Sam and Salty if I need someone out in the middle. It's great to have someone of Sam's experience. They're two people that I'm really close to and they see the game the same way I do."