James Anderson has criticised his Lancashire teammate Liam Livingstone for playing "brainless cricket" when he was dismissed during the second ODI between England and India.
With England struggling at 102-5 when Moeen Ali came to the crease, Livingstone and Moeen were tasked with rebuilding the innings. And the pair put on 46 runs for the sixth wicket while playing "sensible cricket", before Livingstone looked to attack Hardik Pandya.
In the 29th over, Livingstone struck Pandya for back-to-back boundaries, first coming down the track to a short ball and depositing it into the stands for six. After pulling the next ball for four through midwicket, Livingstone attempted to hit another six off another short ball, but holed out to the fielder at deep square leg.
And Anderson was far from impressed with the nature of Livingstone's dismissal, stating that the 28-year-old "didn't need to take that risk" after already hitting Pandya for two boundaries. "That is pretty brainless cricket really from Liam Livingstone," Anderson said while on commentary for BBC Test Match Special.
"He's just got ten runs off the previous two balls. He's used his feet again and [the ball is] again banged in by Pandya and this time he finds the man on the square leg boundary with an easy catch.
"He stands in the middle of the wicket Liam Livingstone and can't quite believe what he's done, he's left England in trouble at 148-6. That's really frustrating from England's point of view, they'd just started to build a partnership with Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone.
"They played sensible cricket, knocking the ball around and got some boundaries. Ten runs off the previous two balls of this Pandya over and he decides to try and go again, ran down the wicket, Pandya banged it in and this time it was Liam Livingstone's downfall.
"It's just really frustrating from England's point of view, they'd been rebuilding really well and didn't need to take that risk." England ended up getting bowled out for 246 in their innings, with Moeen the top scorer after making 47.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers for India, taking 4-47. In the process, Chahal became the first leg-spinner to take a four-wicket haul in an ODI at Lord's since Shane Warne in the 1999 Cricket World Cup final which saw Australia defeat Pakistan.
