England’s ace player Liam Livingstone has withdrawn from the upcoming Big Bash League (BBL) season sighting workload issues. Livingstone, who was the Platinum Pick in the BBL drafts for the 2022-23 season for Melbourne Renegades leaves the franchise with a choice to make as the new season is about to start in a month’s time.
Livingstone was taken by the Melbourne Renegades with the first pick in the inaugural BBL Draft and was expected to be available for the club's opening eight games of the season before leaving for South Africa's new domestic T20 league. But now the preparations have hit with a major work with a spanner as they will now look to replace the star man.
Management’s take on Livingstone’s withdrawal
"We're obviously disappointed that we won't have Liam as part of our team this summer, but we understand his decision," said Renegades General Manager James Rosengarten.
"Liam is a fantastic cricketer and there's a reason we used our first pick in the draft to select him.
"Since then, his schedule has changed with added international duties, and we wish him the best as he pushes for a Test debut.
"This news has allowed us to explore replacement options with greater availability beyond the first half of the tournament, and we look forward to being able to announce another big-name addition for the Renegades soon."
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Big setback for BBL
The Big Bash has now lost two of its platinum-level picks for this summer after the Sydney Thunder's No.7 selection David Willey also withdrew from the entire tournament a week ago. The Big Bash League's plans of boosting international star power through an overseas player draft have now suffered another major setback.
Melbourne Renegades BBL|12 Squad (so far): Nic Maddinson (c), Zak Evans, Aaron Finch, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Mackenzie Harvey, Akeal Hosein (West Indies), Ruwantha Kellapotha (Sri Lanka), Shaun Marsh, Jack Prestwidge, Kane Richardson, Corey Rocchiccioli, Tom Rogers, Andre Russell (West Indies), Will Sutherland, Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Afghanistan), Jon Wells
