NEWS
Follow UsEngland opener Jason Roy felt that Liam Livingstone's ability to bowl both leg and off-spin will make him key on sluggish UAE pitches in the 2021 World T20. Livingstone excelled in Dubai on Wednesday against Bangladesh where he claimed 2-15 in three overs
"He's doing extremely well for us and holding up an average is extremely positive," Roy said of Livingstone. "Especially as the tournament goes on where the pitches might get a little bit harder against spin, who knows, he might have more of a role to play."
"It's been great having Moeen and Rash (Rashid) on the side as well, and he (Livingstone) learns a lot from them and Jeetan Patel, our spin coach, as well, has been giving him some words of wisdom. It's paying off for him," Roy added.
Bowling first, off-spinner Moeen Ali laid the foundation for England with two wickets in Power Play, while Livingstone removed both Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah in the middle overs to keep them under check. Seamer Tymal Mills (3-27) then wreaked havoc at the death as Bangladesh managed to reach 124/9 in 20 overs.
"We bowled extremely well. Take nothing away from the bowlers. I don't think we took too much of a foot wrong," said Roy.
"We took our catches and fielded and bowled really well. It was a pitch that was on the slow side, and if you bowled straight and on a good length, it was quite hard to get away."
Chasing a moderate total, Roy struck 61 off 38 balls to take away the game from Bangladesh.
"We got off to a great start with the bat and then just capitalised on a lower total. We kept it very simple and stuck to what we do best. We don't look too much into what a lot of other teams do. We make sure that everything in our camp is right and we're doing our roles right," he said.
"There's a lot of trust, a lot of friendships, but yeah, we are just a confident side that always want to get better."
After two defeats in as many games, Bangladesh's chances to qualify for the semifinals appear remote.
"We still have three matches to go. If we win a match we will regain our confidence," said Nasum Ahmed, who struck an unbeaten 19 off nine balls at the end.