Was left out of England's ODI squad. I had to know my caste again. The second T20 of the series in Cardiff yesterday was the same Liam Livingstone that England fans want to see. Chasing Australia's 193 for 6, England lost 3 wickets for 79 runs in 8.2 overs. But in the end, Livingstone was the hero behind England's 3-wicket victory with 6 balls in hand.
Jacob Bethel, who played the second T20 of his international career, should also be mentioned. In the ninth over, Phil Salt (39 from 23 balls) was dismissed by Australia's 'part-time' spinner Matthew Short. Then Bethel made a great pair of 90 runs from 47 balls with Livingstone for the fourth wicket. Among these, no one's contribution is less than anyone else's. Livingstone made 44 off 23 balls in this pair, Bethel 44 off 24 balls. When Bethel (44) was dismissed short off the first ball of the 17th over, England were 25 runs away from victory in 23 balls. If you haven't seen the match, you can think that England won't have any difficulty after that!
No, even if not, Australia still picked up 3 wickets. 2 balls after Bethel was out Sam Curren was also picked up short. Needing 13 runs from 12 balls to win before the start of the 19th over, England picked up 12 runs from the first 3 balls of that over. One four and six from Livingstone.
The interesting thing is that England still lost two balls in a row! Livingstone scored 87 runs off 47 balls in the 50th T20 match of his career. His innings had 5 sixes and 6 fours. Brydon Curse got out in the next ball, but Adil Rashid secured England's victory with a single on the last ball. With this win, England leveled the three-match series at 1-1. Third and final match tomorrow night in Manchester.
Australia used seven bowlers in this match. As the number 7 bowler, Short took 5 wickets for 22 runs. Short took 5 wickets in the boys' T20 as the first opener among Test playing nations.
1454.911 SRY