LIAM Livingstone has received his first England Test call-up for the two-match series in New Zealand.

The Barrow Cricket Club product comes into the squad in place of Yorkshire's Gary Ballance, dropped despite not featuring in any of the matches in the 4-0 Ashes defeat to Australia.

Lancashire captain Livingstone, 24, made his England debut in the Twenty20 series against South Africa last summer, but this is his first call-up to the Test squad.

England will take on the Black Caps in Auckland on March 22 and Christchurch on March 30. Those games are preceded by two warm-up matches in Hamilton.

Livingstone said it was a huge honour to be picked for the tour, and told Lancashire’s official website: “It is a huge honour to have been named in the England Test squad for the first time. Test Match cricket is the pinnacle and something that every player works towards throughout their career.

“As a kid I always wanted to play Test Match cricket for England and I’m determined to take my chance if I get an opportunity in New Zealand.

“I had a taste of what it’s like to play for England in the IT20 series against South Africa last summer, but to pull on the Three Lions in a Test shirt would be a dream come true.

“I’m so excited to get out there and show what I can do.”

National selector James Whitaker said of his call-up: “Liam has been a player that we have been impressed with for quite some time, having performed well in the county system with Lancashire and over the past couple of years with the England Lions.

“He is a very talented and tough cricketer who has the ideal qualities and character to be successful in the Test arena. During the recent Lions tour of Australia, he was a standout performer and showed a lot of maturity in his attitude and put in some strong performances.”

Livingstone has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past two years, making his first-class debut for Lancashire in 2016 and not stopping since then.

He has amassed nearly 2,000 runs in 31 first-class matches at an average of 48.75 since making his bow, and scored a career-best 224 for the Red Rose county against Warwickshire last season.

His feats for Lancashire earned him the captaincy of the team for the 2018 campaign.

Lancashire head coach Glen Chapple told www.lccc.co.uk of Livingstone’s call-up: “It is fantastic news that Liam has been named in the England Test squad for the series against New Zealand.

“He is a highly talented batsman and has shown that over the last two years whilst playing First-Class cricket. To average over 50 in the Specsavers County Championship batting at three shows the technique and temperament he has.”

Away from Old Trafford, the South Cumbrian star has played in three series for England Lions, scoring centuries in both innings of a match against Sri Lanka A last winter – only the second person, after Kevin Pietersen, to achieve that feat for England’s second team.

Livingstone will take part in the England Lions tour of the West Indies in February – though now only the red-ball section, and not the one-day part – before joining the England squad in New Zealand in March.

As expected, there has been no mass bloodletting by England after the comprehensive Ashes defeat, with Ballance, Jake Ball and Tom Curran the only absentees from the group beaten 4-0 in Australia.

Ballance did not feature in the series, Ball featured only in the first Test and Curran was a late addition to the squad before turning out in Melbourne and Sydney.

Trevor Bayliss made a strong case for the retention of Mark Stoneman and James Vince when reviewing the campaign earlier this week, but the pair underperformed Down Under and there is little doubt that this show of faith requires immediate payback if they are to linger in the side.

England squad: J Root (Yorkshire, captain), M Ali (Worcestershire), J Anderson (Lancashire), J Bairstow (Yorkshire), S Broad (Nottinghamshire), A Cook (Essex), M Crane (Hampshire), B Foakes (Surrey), L Livingstone (Lancashire), D Malan (Middlesex), C Overton (Somerset), B Stokes (Durham), M Stoneman (Surrey), J Vince (Hampshire), C Woakes (Warwickshire), M Wood (Durham).