The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced their provisional squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026, slated to begin early next year in February. However, two key names in Liam Livingstone and Jamie Smith were missing from the 15-member squad for the ICC event.
The reason Jamie Smith missed out is that England already has four wicketkeeper-batter/opener options in the squad – Jos Buttler, Phil Salt, Ben Duckett and Tom Banton, although the latter has found a regular role in the middle order of late. Thus, Smith had to face the axe as the Three Lions decided to bank on more reliable names in the position.
Furthermore, Smith experienced a loss in form in the ongoing Ashes 2025-26 series which compounded the decision to drop him. Although Smith hit a whirlwind fifty in his last T20I appearance for England and his form in red-ball cricket shouldn’t exactly be a decisive metric for a short-form tournament but given his subpar average of 19.85 alongside struggling at times behind the stumps, he has been left out entirely.
On the other hand, spin all-rounder and big-hitter Liam Livingstone also failed to make the cut with players like Liam Dawson, Rehan Ahmed and Will Jacks being preferred in the role. Livingstone last featured in the shortest format for England earlier this year during the India tour and despite being a part of the England squad in the previous T20 WC edition and his decent run in franchise cricket, he still couldn’t make a comeback which hints that the management has moved on from him.
ALSO READ:
Harry Brook, who will be leading England in his first-ever ICC event as skipper, also features seven more names who were part of the previous edition. They are Jos Buttler, Phil Salt, Ben Duckett, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Adil Rashid and Jofra Archer.
Harry Brook (capt), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Josh Tongue, Luke Wood.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
