FIRE STILL BURNS IN LIVINGSTONE
PEP GUARDIOLA’S winning return in the Premier League has reignited the fire for Super League action in Steve Price’s belly.
Warrington Wolves coach Price (right) is a huge fan of Manchester City after spending time with boss Guardiola and his staff.
The Aussie said: “I had an opportunity to meet Pep when I
LIAM LIVINGSTONE is the modern enigma of cricket, the power-hitting batsman snapped up by teams in the IPL and Big Bash but forever overlooked by England.
The Lancashire batsman suffered another disappointment last week, when he missed out on the 30-man squad chosen by England after being involved in an initial 55-player training group.
It has not dampened his ambition to play Test cricket. It has not diminished his resolve to prove he is good enough, that he is more than just a T20 mercenary gun for hire. Livingstone has made just two T20 appearances for England in the summer of 2017, when he failed to make an impression. He says: “I don’t think I was picked too early, but the timing was wrong in that I wasn’t in a great place with my game mentally. If you go into that environment when you don’t have confidence it came here with Cronulla
Sharks (as assistant coach) for theworld Club Challenge a few years ago. He is a wonderful man and he let us spend a day with him and his staff. It’s always good to learn different techniques. He was very welcoming and I’d like to catch up with Pep again.” doesn’t help. I’ve matured since. If the chance arises again it will be completely different. I feel I’m a totally different person and a totally different cricketer.
“I’m only 26. I have a lot of years left. I feel that scoring runs in red-ball cricket is much more satisfying than with the white ball. I average 42 in first-class cricket, which not many English batsmen around at the moment do.
“I feel I have the game for Test cricket. People may see me as a guy who just plays all these T20 leagues and ask when am I going to give up red-ball cricket? But I think I have a really strong red-ball game. I want to play Test cricket for England but I also want to travel around big competitions and make a name for myself.”
Livingstone played at the IPL for Rajasthan Royals alongside Ben Stokes, who he has known since junior days in Cumbria, and with Australian ace Steve Smith.
“In the IPL you are in dressing rooms with so many people,” he says. “To share time with someone like Smith and to be able to pick his brains is so important.
“I’d sit with him on the bus journeys and plane journeys, and there was so much opportunity to learn.
“I made my IPL debut at Mumbai in front of 65,000. That’s why you go to play in these tournaments – to get used to the pressure of playing in front of a huge crowd. If the opportunity to play for England comes around you will be used to the atmosphere.”
FORMER Formula One driver and twice Champ Car champion Alex Zanardi (below) is in a serious condition after suffering severe head injuries in a road accident while racing his handbike in Italy.
The 53-year-old Italian, who lost both legs and nearly his life in a 2001 Champ Car crash in Germany, is in a drug-induced coma. Medics said his condition was “serious but stable”.