Tourists leave with two consolations ahead of T20 World Cup push
Heroics with the bat could keep Moeen out of side at No 7, while Livingstone stakes his claim in all facets of game
hcurran’s
It was the third consecutive series in India in which England fell at the last hurdle. Even in this age of chasing, it is still better to bat first in a final or series-decider if the opportunity offers and conditions do not change hugely. The target appears more mountainous for the side batting second, as England were to discover.
After three months in the subcontinent, though, and a 2-1 loss in the ODI series, England will fly home with a couple of consolations. One was Sam Curran’s last-ditch hitting, his first serious white-ball innings for England.
Visitors to the house in Northampton where Kevin Curran used to live 20 years ago, when the Zimbabwean was representing Northamptonshire, would see a tiny lad in the garden with a golf club and plastic ball. The youngest of the three Curran brothers wanted to keep up with the older two, and his way of doing so was to go off by himself and practise hitting balls over the house.
This shot of the left-handed infant grew into the lofted straight drive which is Curran’s signature stroke, and which kept England in contention until the end of their three-month tour. England fizzled out in the Test and T20 series, but went down fighting in Pune.
No7 batsmen in T20 sides face around four balls on average, but in such a high-risk hitting team as England, there may yet be a place for the youngest Curran in the World T20 finals after an innings such as his 95 against India’s finest. It would be a help if he also swung the new ball abroad, but whatever he does he has one of the smartest brains: it is conditioned to enable him to compete with those older, taller and stronger.
England’s second consolation is that Liam Livingstone made an application, backed by a formidable CV, to become England’s right-handed finisher in the T20 finals in India. Dawid Malan had better make the most of his Indian Premier League stint if he is to retain his place in England’s T20 XI.
In his two ODIS for England so far Livingstone has finished off one victory and was only undone in his second game by a full toss, like his fellow Cumbrian Ben Stokes. Whatever the whiteball format, Livingstone is a dangerous batsman and a unique part-time bowler, while as a fielder he attacks the ball like he attacks every other aspect of the game.
When he played for England before this tour, in a couple of T20s against South Africa, Livingstone was too raw, too abrasive and in too much of a hurry. But he has learnt which battles to fight during his T20 peregrinations, which has smoothed some of the rough edges without reshaping the tough nut within.
Livingstone contributed three overs of his own brand of spin (“Livingstone’s All-sorts – a strong and original mixture”). Only someone who did not go to a county academy from the age of 10 would have dared to dream it up, or someone who
entered professional cricket as a part-time leg-spinner, then switched to off-spin, before combining the two – or, to be precise, alternating between the two, with offspin at left-handed batsmen and leg-spin at right-handers.
Being able to bowl one over of spin can contribute so much to a T20 side, although Livingstone normally bowls his full allotment of four for Lancashire. And the fact that Livingstone can bowl, and bat like a right-handed finisher, puts him ahead of Joe Root as the missing link in England’s T20 side, and ahead of Sam Billings, who is never going to be required in his secondary role as wicketkeeper.
If Curran keeps Moeen Ali out of the side after his lastditch gallantry, Livingstone could act as second spinner.