Liam Livingstone is aiming to regain his place in England’s 50-over setup after embracing a much-desired opportunity: a promotion up the order in the current T20 series against Australia.
Moved up to No 4 on Wednesday in a new-look XI that featured three debutants, Livingstone served up a 27-ball 37 in the series opener, England’s best offering on a bitterly cold September evening in Southampton. Three wickets earlier in the piece made it a fine all-round display.
“I’ve probably had two years of batting a bit lower down – you don’t always get the opportunity,” said Livingstone, who featured at six and seven at the T20 World Cup in June. “It’s usually you either don’t bat, you come in for two or three balls, or you need 14 an over facing 10 balls at the end.
“I don’t think you’ll see anybody that wants to bat lower down the order. I want that responsibility, I want to try and win games of cricket for England and I think the higher up the order, the more chance you have of doing that. That’s why series like this, where you get an opportunity further up the order, it’s a chance for me to stake my claim. I guess winning games of T20 cricket for England may enhance my chances of getting back into the one-day team.”
Entrusted with greater responsibility in one format, Livingstone has been left out of another, excluded from the group for next week’s one-dayers against Australia. Like most of his teammates he found little joy at last year’s World Cup, amassing 60 runs and three wickets across six matches. But he is enjoying being “pain-free” in the field after a couple of years in which the body has suffered. An ankle injury suffered before he played at the 2022 T20 World Cup was followed by a knee injury on Test debut against Pakistan that December.
“Unfortunately I won’t be playing in the ODIs but it’s still not something I’m giving up on. I feel like I’ve had a difficult couple of years. My body has probably let me down a little bit and maybe I haven’t been up to scratch physically with a couple of niggles.
“I did my ankle just before the World Cup, rushed back for the World Cup, which then led to me injuring my knee in the Test stuff.It was basically a bit of a game of cat-and-mouse between the two of them for a long while. I was always rushing back to play whatever the next tournament was because I wanted to play cricket – I didn’t want to be out of cricket for too long. I probably rushed back a little bit quick but I don’t really have any regrets because I won a World Cup. I’m 31, I’m not going to sit here and cry about not being picked. There’s plenty of cricket to be playing around the world and if I’m not involved in the ODI stuff then there’s plenty more opportunities. I guess the key for me is I’m back to enjoying my cricket. I feel like I can run around in the field pain-free, I can bowl and I feel like I’m back in decent nick with the bat.”
