Livingstone could get England call this year - Croft
He’s got magnificent potential. He hits the ball very hard, catches and bowls well. He’s a hell of a player Steven Croft
STEVEN Croft has backed Liam Livingstone to play one-day cricket for England this summer, describing his Lancashire team-mate as ‘a hell of a player’.
Livingstone has enjoyed a stunning winter with the England Lions, most recently in both four-day and one-day cricket in Sri Lanka.
He has scored runs and taken wickets, bamboozling the hosts with a mixture of leg and off-spin.
The 23-year-old, who posted two centuries in a first-class match at Dambulla last month, also impressed in the North v South threematch one-day series in Dubai.
Lions and former England coach Andy Flower said of the Cumbrian: “I can see him pushing for an international place fairly soon in the limited overs forms.”
And Red Rose captain Croft believes the Zimbabwean has a point.
He said: “I don’t see why not. Livvy’s compared well to a few players who’ve played in the recent past.
“He’s had a strong winter behind him and a strong county season last year. If he gets the nod, I don’t think it’s too leftfield a shout.
“He’s got magnificent potential. He hits the ball very hard, he can catch and bowls well too. He’s a hell of a player.
“If he does get that call, it will probably be because he’s got some more runs at the start of the year. Then, it wouldn’t be a shock in anyone’s eyes.”
It has been quite a 12 months for Livingstone.
This time last year, he hadn’t made his first-class debut, although he was a regular in Lancashire’s titlewinning NatWest T20 Blast team of 2015.
Now, he has four hundreds in a haul of 1,145 runs from 18 first-class matches as well a number of impressive one-day and T20 showings behind him.
“We all knew what Haseeb Hameed could do, and Livvy was pretty close behind him,” said Croft. “I think he probably got overlooked a little bit last year. In Championship cricket, he opened a lot of eyes.
“I think everyone knew he was a good ball striker – more of a one-day player – but he probably had a stronger four-day season.”
One surprise to many was his ability to switch from leg-spin to off-spin while on Lions duty. Not for Croft, however. He added: “He’s always bowled leg-spin, but when he was younger he broke both his wrists, and he struggled a bit. “So he bowled off-spin. “He then got his confidence and strength back to bowl leg-spin again.
“To have the ability to switch to off-spin if a lefthander comes in is a really good weapon.”