The all-rounder was pre-signed by the franchise ahead of the auction in 2026.
London Spirit seem to have unearthed a formula for success, which goes via the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) route. After acquiring the services of Mo Bobat, Andy Flower and Dinesh Karthik, the franchise has now signed all-rounder Liam Livingstone ahead of The Hundred auctions in March 2026. The franchise has signed Jamie Overton as well, and are targeting Adam Zampa for a deal.
Since the past couple of years, the tournament has gone through a lot of structural changes, which have been noteworthy. The eight teams which are a part of the competition were centrally run for the first five years. But ahead of the 2026 season, operational control is being taken over by private investors and host countries in a target to run the franchises as joint-ventures.
To add to that, what used to be known as a draft earlier is now being changed to an auction setup. As a result, teams are only allowed to pre-sign a maximum of four players in order to make sure that the benefit does not rest with one franchise solely. Out of those four:
To keep things fair, the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have set the fixed number of deductions from the salary caps of the franchises depending on the number of pre-signed players. That being said, the franchises can split the money however they wish too within those set boundaries. The retention window opened on November 27, with multiple teams announcing their pre-signed players.
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The English all-rounder has played for the Birmingham Phoenix since the inception of the tournament in 2021, and has been a vital contributor for the franchise with the bat. With franchises having the liberty to pre-sign a limited number of four players ahead of the auction, Liam Livingstone would be a pick which would relieve the London Spirit management.
Over the course of the five seasons with the franchise, Livingstone has smashed almost a 1,000 runs at an average of 34.34. Moreover, his strike-rate of 148.87 speaks volumes of his ability to hit the long ball which he has been doing all his career. At London Spirit, the all-rounder is expected to have a similar kind of role. With just 100 deliveries, there’s not a lot of defence one can exhibit.
What separates Livingstone from the other hard-hitters is his ability to maintain a stable base while connecting the ball. In recent times, his head has been falling over to the off-side, bringing his balance down which has resulted in his dismissals. But over the course of the last few months, he has made sure that he maintains a posture which ceases to go down the off-side during contact with the ball.
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