LIVING LEGEND
Liam can strike it like Big Ben
LIAM LIVINGSTONE has been backed to follow in Ben Stokes’ footsteps and play a starring role at the business end of a World Cup.
A T20 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand is the sort of occasion when Stokes would be at the top of his game.
And today we are set to find out whether England’s latest big hitter, a fellow Cumbrian, is made of the same sort of stuff.
Skipper Eoin Morgan seems to think so after watching him impress during the English summer.
Livingstone, 28, finally got time in the middle to sparkle during the South Africa run chase on Saturday only to fall just short of the target.
Morgan said: “I’m a big fan of Liam. He’s a guy that has the ability to contribute a bit like Ben, at any stage of the game.
“And he plays a brand of cricket that makes it easy for him to come in and settle into the side.
“We want him to be that attacking, aggressive player who takes the game on the whole time.
“The role that he’s played, particularly with the bat, is not an easy role to play, batting in the lower middle order, to continue to take high risks.
“But he seems to want to do that, which is great because if you have somebody who comes in who starts thinking about himself, it creates a bit of an issue around role clarity and what guys are contributing to the team.
“So he’s been extremely selfless when he’s come in and done that role. And all we would like to do is to continue that, because when he gets going he’s very difficult to stop.”
A multi-dimensional cricketer, just like Stokes, Livingstone has been able to contribute with bat, ball and in the field, not to mention with a competitive edge that lets the opposition know they are in for a battle.
He also happens to hit the ball a very long way, even if Morgan remained loyal to Jos Buttler when asked who is the biggest of them all.
“Liam is one of the cleanest strikers of the ball we have within our squad,” added Morgan.
“I don’t know if he’s the biggest, because the range-finder thing that projects how big sixes are hit, I think that was on the blink in Dubai when we played against Australia.”
A reshuffle is required due to the injury to Jason Roy and the likely switch will see Jonny Bairstow move to open and Moeen Ali go up the order.
The only real question for England is whether to play Sam Billings or David Willey as the replacement.
Billings is more likely to make the most of the five to seven balls that a No.7 usually receives, while Willey will provide a left-arm option with the ball that England are missing.
England are unlikely to need more bowling but big and clever hitting will be crucial.