“You can guess how excited I am,” Liam Livingstone says as he remembers how we had spoken for more than an hour just over two weeks ago about his desire to play Test cricket. Now, the day after he heard that his boyhood dream had come a huge step closer with the news that he will be part of England’s 15-man Test squad to tour Pakistan in December, Livingstone is in an exuberant mood. He had been just as open and friendly at Old Trafford late last month but, then, his hopes of playing Test cricket were fuelled by yearning rather than concrete hope.
It is different now. The T20 World Cup begins on Sunday and Livingstone, who is close to a full recovery from the ankle injury which affected his preparations, could be an important player for England in Australia. After his success in the IPL this year, when Livingstone smashed 34 sixes and was second only to Jos Buttler in clearing the ropes, his reputation as one of the most destructive batsmen in the world was cemented. This followed years of big hitting in various forms of white-ball franchise cricket which turned Livingstone into a millionaire.
