Follow UsFormer England captain Eoin Morgan believes Liam Livingstone should be a ‘dead cert’ to play every game at the forthcoming ODI World Cup, owing to his multi-dimensionality.
Livingstone has not set the world on fire in ODI cricket thus far, averaging under 34 with the bat, but the 30-year-old offers versatility like no other cricketer in the world, thanks to his ability to bowl leg-spin and off-spin, while also being capable of batting anywhere in the batting order.
For this reason, Morgan believes that England should back Livingstone, who scored a rapid fifty batting at No.6 in the first ODI against New Zealand, to the hilt.
"He's a smart cricketer. He is a key part of this 50-over team because of his all-round ability,” Morgan said of Livingstone, speaking on Sky Sports.
"In the field he is unbelievably good and his ability to bowl both finger spin and wrist spin makes him a dead cert to play every game."
Livingstone, meanwhile, revealed that he’s been working on his bowling to turn himself into a full-fledged all-rounder. The all-rounder revealed that he made a technical tweak three weeks ago in a bid to ‘get more shape on the ball’.
"I feel like I work on my bowling to become a genuine all-rounder. It doesn't come as naturally to me as batting does,” Livingstone said.
"I've changed a few things with my bowling, it sounds weird but I'm in more of a development phase. I only made the change about three weeks ago so hopefully I'll keep getting better and better.”
A hard-hitting batter by nature, Livingstone said that it was ‘incredible’ to have in the dressing room Freddie Flintoff, who has joined the England team’s backroom staff for the ongoing ODI series against the Kiwis. Two days ago, Flintoff was spotted on screen for the first time since suffering an accident while filming for the BBC show ‘Top Gear’ in December last year, where he suffered multiple injuries.
"It's incredible to have him. He's obviously been one of my heroes growing up. To have someone of his experience lingering around the dressing room is great for all the lads,” Livingstone said of Flintoff.
"When you see someone like Fred around, it's always good to chat. Especially while you're batting: there's three and a half hours to pick the brains of someone who's been there and done it.
"He's probably a national hero, everybody loves that Fred's joining us and I'm sure he'll enjoy it as much himself. Over the next week or so, I'm sure he'll have plenty of laughs inside there."