Sir Alastair Cook dinner has hailed Liam Livingstone’s “coming-of-age” knock after England’s stand-in captain hit his maiden ODI century towards West Indies to stage the collection and arrange a decider.
Livingstone, who was dropped for September’s one-day internationals towards Australia earlier than starring within the T20 fixtures, has since been appointed stand-in skipper following Jos Buttler’s calf harm – and led his workforce to victory on Saturday with an unbeaten 124 off 85 balls.
Having fallen to an eight-wicket (DLS Technique) defeat to the hosts within the opener on the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Thursday – Livingstone prime scoring with 48 – the vacationers had been criticised for not having the ability to convert their good begins.
Nevertheless, their five-wicket victory on Saturday confirmed that they had learnt their classes, with former captain Cook dinner praising Livingstone’s resilience.
“Fair play to him [Livingstone]. He was under a bit of scrutiny and pressure after Thursday’s game,” Cook dinner informed TNT Sports activities.
“It was a coming-of-age knock. It was completely good; 46 off 57 balls – that is so in contrast to what we have normally seen of Livingstone.
“He went up and down the gears and to have the starvation to be there on the finish was good. The final 78 runs got here off 28 balls. That’s some freakish energy.
“If you had guys who are not in this team, like [Harry] Brook, [Joe] Root, [Ben] Duckett, and have Livingstone as a finisher at No 5, then that’s a dangerous 50-over top-order.
“He is had the chance to guide your nation and that is an enormous honour. He’ll go to mattress happy. It is solely after he obtained dropped that he began batting at No 5.
“There’s not many places you can hide the ball to him. Not many players have the ability to hit three sixes. He’s not premediating, he’s reacting with great skill and clarity to hit the ball so clearly.”
Cook dinner was additionally stuffed with reward for the character proven by Livingstone’s team-mates to bounce again from their heavy defeat to maintain the collection alive.
“They were poor on Thursday but today everyone had match-toughness. [Phil] Salt played well and the pitch suited him with the ball coming on to him. He likes that.
“I used to be impressed by [Jacob] Bethell’s maturity He obtained into the tempo rather well. These guys have been constructed on T20 cricket and The Hundred. In 50-over cricket you will have a lot extra time to absorb strain.”
On the balance of England’s bowling attack, Cook added: “They appear higher with three seamers.
“I don’t think you need to use nine bowlers but [Michael] Pepper could come in. However, I don’t think anyone deserves to be left out after that performance.
“I feel England will go for a similar facet [for the final ODI].”
After his knock, Livingstone mentioned England wished to take dangers and strengthened his facet’s attacking mentality.
“There’s certain things I’ve done in practice at the end of the summer in England where I felt like I was getting back to my best,” Livingstone informed TNT Sports activities.
“Just maturing a little bit and knowing my game pretty well and back enjoying cricket. Ultimately, that’s the main thing, I play well when I’m enjoying it.
“We wished to take dangers early on. I attempted to get myself going after which set it up for the top and goal their dying bowling. It labored completely in the long run.
“[Sam] Curran played beautifully. I’ve batted a lot with him so I knew I could trust him. We needed someone to get a big score and that’s what we did today.
“I feel we had been nice with the ball too. General, a reasonably respectable workforce efficiency and we’re again within the collection.”
West Indies vs England schedule (all instances UK and Eire)
- First ODI: Antigua – West Indies win by eight wickets (DLS)
- Second ODI: Antigua – England win by 5 wickets
- Third ODI: Barbados – Wednesday November 6 (6pm)
- First T20: Barbados – Saturday November 9 (8pm)
- Second T20: Barbados – Sunday November 10 (8pm)
- Third T20: St Lucia – Thursday November 14 (8pm)
- Fourth T20: St Lucia – Saturday November 16 (8pm)
- Fifth T20: St Lucia – Sunday November 17 (8pm)
Comply with England’s white-ball tour of West Indies throughout Sky Sports activities‘ digital platforms with stay blogs and studies. The third and last one-day worldwide is in Barbados on Wednesday, November 6 (6pm begin UK and Eire).