Liam Livingstone Signals other teams with a warm up win against Pakistan-With a return cameo of 28 from 16 balls, including one huge six that soared clean out of the stadium, Liam Livingstone demonstrated his World Cup preparedness as England finished their tournament preparation by crushing Pakistan by six wickets at the Gabba.
As he recovered from an ankle injury received during the Hundred, Livingstone missed each of England’s previous 10 T20Is against Pakistan and Australia.
However, in a match that was cut short to 19 overs each side due to rain, he joined a middle-order that smashed 12 sixes to Pakistan’s one, helping England cruise to victory with 26 balls remaining.
England made the most of the game time despite the inconvenience of the match, which David Willey said they “could have done without” given that they now have a five-and-a-half-hour flight to Perth before their tournament opener against Afghanistan on Saturday. Ben Stokes, who battled with the bat against Australia but discovered his range on the this occasion with 36 from 18, was especially effective.
Chasing 161 for victory, Harry Brook (45 not out from 24 balls) and Sam Curran effectively ended the match (33 not out from 14).
Shan Masood started the innings for Pakistan in the absence of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, and he answered with a hard-hitting effort of 39 off 22 balls, matching England’s aggressive style with the bat.
However, Pakistan lost their next five wickets for 57 runs, falling from a comfortable 67 for 1 after 6.2 overs to 124 for 6 after 14.4, where only Mohammad Wasim’s 26 from 16 could restore their chances of a respectable score. With up to eight bowling options, along with a three-over burst from Mark Wood and two wickets for Willey, England rang the changes on the field.
After back-to-back victories to defeat Pakistan 4-3 on their current tour of the country and last week’s consecutive eight-run victories over Australia, England finished (albeit in an informal way) their fifth win in as many completed T20Is. Pakistan’s fielding had a bad day, with several missed opportunities undermining their prospects.
After the game, Buttler told Sky Sports, “I believe everything we wanted to get out of today, we did.” “It’s great to see Liam Livingstone returning to the field after suffering a serious injury, and getting some overs into Chris Jordan who is recovering from a broken finger. Brook and Curran obtaining some time in the middle as well. We tried a few separate stuff that guys were wanting to experiment with.And this is the perfect time to try to do that.”