350 runs in 27 sixes, the story of Liam Livingstone
April 2015. The new season of English cricket has just started. And at the beginning of that season, an unknown batsman made a fuss. Not county cricket,
350 runs in 27 sixes, the story of Liam Livingstone
April 2015. The new season of English cricket has just started. And at the beginning of that season, an unknown batsman made a fuss. Not county cricket, the event is England's National Club Championship. A batsman from Cheshire County club Nantwich scored 350 runs from 138 balls against the Caldy club.
The name of the batsman is Liam Livingstone. The 21-year-old Livingstone inhuman hit 34 fours and 27 sixes en route to that innings.
After that explosive innings, Livingstone told BBC Sport, "After the 100 I tried to hit every ball. After getting close to 3 overs, it felt like something special was going to happen.' Livingstone's team scored 579 for 7 in that match, then bowled out the opposition for 79 runs to win by 500 runs.
Nine-and-a-half years later, Livingstone's desire to hit sixes has not died, and the proof was found again on Friday night. Australia's bowlers felt it very well at Lord's, the cricket shrine. The 31-year-old cricketer hit 7 sixes in his 27-ball innings of 62 runs. Livingstone again hit four of the 7 sixes in the 39th over of Mitchell Starc's innings. Livingstone also gave Australia an unexpected record by picking up a total of 28 runs in that over of the match which was reduced to 39 overs in the rain. This is Australia's most expensive over in ODIs.
England scored 312 runs for 5 wickets with Livingstone's batting. Australia all out for 126 in the run chase. However, Livingstone could not make any contribution to it. The team did not need Spin Bowling from Livingstone in the fourth ODI of the series, even though he had rotated in the previous six matches played for England this month.
T20 all-rounder rankings prove that Livingstone is not a bad bowler, both off-spin and leg-spin. In addition to scoring 124 runs in two matches against Australia in the T20 series, Livingstone became the number one all-rounder in T20 with 5 wickets with the ball in his first match for England in 2017.
In the second match of that series too, Australia felt the rust of Livingstone's bat. He hit 6 fours and 5 sixes on his way to scoring 87 runs off 47 balls that day. If England's one-day captain Jos Buttler was healthy, Livingstone, who was in such great form, would not have got a chance in the one-day series against Australia. The selectors took him into the team at the last moment when Butler could not return after recovering from injury.
Livingstone did not do well in the first two matches of the ODI series (13 from 16 balls and 0 from 1 ball), England also lost those two matches. He was unbeaten on 33 runs from 20 balls in the third match, which England won by 46 runs. Then yesterday's innings.
Even after all these years, Livingstone surely remembers that 2015 club cricket match. The foundation of his career is that match. A month after that match, the T20 debut was recognized. He also won the NatWest T20 Blast for Lancashire in his first season. Livingstone, who also made his debut in List 'A' cricket that season, played his first match in first-class cricket the following April.
However, he could not make his T20 debut in England's jersey in 2017. Dropped from the team after scoring 16 and 0 runs in two matches against South Africa. After returning to the national team after four years, Livingstone scored an English record century in the fourth match with a 42-ball century.
After that, nothing could stand in Livingstone's way except injury.
