Ignored for four years, unstoppable Liam Livingstone has made himself undroppable

If you’re still in awe of Liam Livingstone’s century, try fathoming this - between June 2017 and June 2021 - he batted a grand total of zero times for England in the shortest format. During this period he had successful stints in different leagues across the world and scored close to 3,000 runs, yet he couldn’t get a look in. Not even once. Some will say that this is because of England’s ludicrous white-ball depth, but that is not really true.

It wouldn’t be hyperbole to call Livingstone’s 103 on Friday the best ever T20I innings played by an English middle-order batsman. Because statistically, it is. At Trent Bridge, Livingstone not just simply scored the fastest 50 and 100 by an Englishman in T20I cricket:  his 103 is the highest ever score by any batsman batting at No.5 or below in T20I history (full members), and no English batsman has ever hit as many sixes (9) in a single inning batting at lower than No.4 as Livingstone did on Friday. The Lancashire superstar made himself an indispensable asset through his showmanship, and also created history in the process of doing so. 

When Livingstone walked in to bat with England reeling at 48/3, he had no right to do what he did. Not only were England 185 shy of their target having lost two fulcrums of the side, and were aiming to achieve a feat - chasing a total over 230 - that’d been done only twice before in T20 international history, he himself had, prior to the series, batted only four times in T20I cricket. Two of those knocks were separated by four years. And, in addition, the Pakistan bowlers also had their tails up, with the required run-rate having risen to over 12. 

But Livingstone’s demon-possessed avatar cared about none of that. For 12 overs, he was an immovable object and an unstoppable force, all at once.

Fielders were made to run for their life, as were the non-strikers: 26 of his runs came singles and doubles. For an hour and a half, Livingstone gave the fans at Trent Bridge a high they would have never experienced in their life. No wonder skipper Eoin Morgan described it as good a T20 knock he’s ever seen anyone play.

“It was an incredible knock (from Liam Livingstone). Over the last six years as a group, our changing room has sat back and watched so many incredible knocks from Buttler, Roy, Ali. That knock today was as good as any of them. He was incredible,” Morgan said at the end of the game. 

In many ways, you wonder if the outcome on Friday could ultimately end up doing more good for England, in the long run, than, say, a regulation win enabled by their big guns. Livingstone making the step up and coming of age at the international level bodes well for the side not just because he is an x-factor and a match-winner who could turn matches on its head, but also for other pivotal reasons. 

England’s middle-order in the five-match series against India reeked of one-dimensionality, with four of the five middle-order batters (from 3 to 7 ) being left-handed. India exploited this one-dimensionality by making their pacers take the ball away from the left-hander by bowling slow off-cutters, and it was a ploy for which the Three Lions had no answers to. Primarily because they had no weapons to tackle it. Now, in the form of the right-handed Livingstone, they have one. 

What makes Livingstone less of a Russell and more of a de Villiers, though, is his level-headedness; the batting duality. Only two knocks before the sizzling ton he hit at Trent Bridge, Livingstone dragged England out of a hole against the Lankans. Chasing 112, the Three Lions were reeling at 36/4 in the 7th over, and were in serious danger of slipping to one of their most embarrassing defeats of all time. The occasion could so easily have gotten to Livingstone, given the fact that he was playing his first T20I in four years, but the Lancashire man stayed put and played risk-free cricket - taking 1s and 2s by milking the spinners - to steer the side home. 

Such was Livingstone’s unshakable self-control that night, he hit a solitary boundary - a ramp towards fine-leg off Chameera - in his 26-ball stay in the middle. He remained unbeaten as Sam Curran hit the winning runs, and helped turn an uncomfortable position into a regulation win. Given the explosive nature of those who bat above him in the order, Livingstone could find himself in similar positions in many a game in the future. 

That Livingstone has now steered well ahead of Sam Billings goes without saying, but he could potentially be now vying for Dawid Malan’s spot. Not only is he already a better player of spin than Malan, but he also is more flexible (can bat anywhere between 1 to 7 ) and fits into the ‘Morgan ideology’ better due to his uncanny ability to go berserk from ball one. This English side takes pride in counter-attacking, and Livingstone, on Friday, produced the mother of all counter-attacks: coming in at 48/3, he blasted 40 off his first 14 balls. 

2021 has been a year of checking boxes for Livingstone. The first box that needed checking was finding his way back into the national set-up, and he did so by playing the ODI series against India. Next, it was to find his way back in the T20I set-up, and he achieved that by playing the entirety of the Sri Lanka series. The most important box that needed checking was making his way into the World T20 squad, and Friday’s knock, you suspect, has taken care of it. Finding a place in the starting XI in the World T20 is quite an ambitious box, but if the first T20I in Trent Bridge is anything to go by, then there is no reason why Livingstone cannot check that too.