Legendary England World Cup-winning skipper Eoin Morgan said all-rounder Liam Livingstone is a “dead cert” or certain starter for England in the ICC Cricket World Cup, scheduled to take place in India from October 5. In the first ODI of a four-match series between England and New Zealand on Friday, Livingstone hit 52 in 40 balls with three fours and three sixes during an eight-wicket loss to the Kiwis in Cardiff. This included three consecutive big hits from pacer Kyle Jamieson.
Livingstone scored just 100 runs in his six innings at The Hundred, with a best score of 28. But he found form in Cardiff at the right time just before the World Cup.
Morgan called Livingstone a “smart cricketer” whose all-round abilities make him important to the team.
“He’s a smart cricketer,” former England whites captain Morgan said of Livingstone, as quoted by Sky Sports.
“He is an important part of this 50-over team because of his all-round ability. In the field he is incredibly good and his ability to bowl both finger spin and wrist spin makes him an absolute certainty to play every match.”
The all-rounder said that he is working on his bowling to become a true all-rounder.
“…I’m working on my bowling to become a real all-rounder. It doesn’t come as naturally to me as batting,” Livingstone said.
“I’ve changed a few things with my bowling, it sounds strange but I’m more in a development phase. I only made the change about three weeks ago so hopefully I’ll keep getting better and better.”
“It’s a technical thing I’ve been working on to try and get a bit more shape on the ball, to ultimately try to get more wickets and become a bigger threat,” he concluded.
Livingstone has scored 302 runs in 13 ODIs and 11 innings at an average of 33.55 and a strike rate of over 123. He has scored two half-centuries, with a best of 66*.
The second ODI of the four-match series will take place on Sunday.
England squad: Harry Brook, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (w/c), Liam Livingstone, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley, Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Mark Wood, Brydon Carse
New Zealand squad: Devon Conway, Will Young, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (w/c), Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult, Ben Lister, Finn Allen.
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