Livingstone living it up on and off the pitch
LIAM Livingstone may not have been a box-office name when he arrived at the Cape Town Blitz, but the England international has fast become a bit of a cult hero down at Newlands.
Locals may have thought the Lancastrian was only picked up at the Mzansi Super League draft because he was a mate of coach Ashwell Prince – they played together at Old Trafford during Prince’s final county days – but the 26-year-old has certainly entertained the #Blitzbrigade.
By his own admission he is still seeking to “catch the big one”, but he has the Newlands patrons sitting up in the seats when he gets to the crease. Livingstone has smashed some of the biggest sixes of MSL 2.0 thus far, starting with one at the Wanderers that flew out of the stadium.
“It has been quite nice to swing freely and catch a few cleanly,” Livingstone said ahead of the Blitz clash against the Tshwane Spartans today.
“I think the pitches have been as good as I have played around the world. That’s a real bonus because it allows you trust the bounce and swing through the line. It’s been disappointing that I havent been able to catch one properly yet but we still have a few more games for it to happen.”
Livingstone is seemingly making the most of his Mzansi experience with his social media accounts very active with updates of him exploring the Mother City with his teammates.
“We have a good group of lads. It has been great to work with Ashwell again, he was obviously a big player at Lancashire while I was growing up, so its great to link up with him again. He and Quinny (de Kock) have set up a good thing here.
“Cape Town is also one of the most best places in the world. The weather is lovely. I have been to a few restaurants, the Waterfront, we also went to dinner at Kalk Bay the other evening, so the boys have taken me around.”
It is not just a sight-seeing trip for Livingstone. England will arrive in South Africa shortly and there’s no doubt the selectors have monitored Livingstone’s progress in these conditions closely.
“I spent a lot of time worrying about playing for England, but I am now just looking to enjoy myself playing in all the leagues around the world. I played a bit of Indian Premier League this year, now I am playing Mzanzi which I think has been good. I think it just needs a few thousand people to come through the gates and it will be right up there with the best leagues around the world.”