Liam Livingstone believes England’s entertainers are thriving in an environment of “trust” created by Eoin Morgan, who was absent at an optional training session on Tuesday.
Morgan has registered back-to-back ducks in England’s one-day series against the Netherlands in Amstelveen although he has spoken about the necessity to manage his fitness before this autumn’s T20 World Cup.
England’s white-ball captain has battled quadricep and groin injuries recently so was perhaps mindful of his workload, but he was one of two players to skip voluntary training before Wednesday’s third one-day international.
When everyone is available it is likely that Livingstone will be Morgan’s long-term successor in a middle-order overflowing with batting talent, and the Cumbrian is increasingly coming to the fore as he holds the record for England’s fastest fifties in ODIs and T20s – both of which came off just 17 balls.
His ODI effort was against the Dutch last Friday as England flayed a world record 498 for four, which Livingstone credited to the belief the batters have in each other in a culture fostered by Morgan.
“We are in the entertainment business and thankfully we’ve got a lot of talent to come in,” he said. “Eoin trusts everybody and everybody trusts everybody else.
“One of the biggest things we’ve got from this group is the trust that it’s not always going to come off, some days it’s not going to work out and that’s absolutely fine.
“We’ve got trust in everybody’s ability around us that if it’s not your day, somebody else will do it for you.”
Livingstone has continued his fine form from the Indian Premier League, where he finally came good with Punjab Kings after a disappointing few seasons, averaging 36.1 with a staggering strike-rate of 182.08.
In his nine matches before then between 2019-21, those figures dipped to 14 and 125.84, so Livingstone was relieved to show his worth, especially with England’s 50-over World Cup defence in India next year.
“Any experience you get around the world with World Cups coming up is a great thing to have and it was nice to finally get the monkey off my back about not being able to do it in the IPL,” he said.
“I hadn’t really had too much opportunity but there will always be people who say certain things – it’s the biggest tournament in the world so hopefully that will stand me in good stead.”
England’s other absentee at Tuesday’s training was Reece Topley, who could give way in the XI to Sam Curran although fellow left-armers, the uncapped David Payne and Luke Wood, are waiting in the wings.
England lead the series 2-0 after victories last Friday and Sunday, but World Cup Super League points are at stake so the tourists will know the importance of remaining on the front foot.
Livingstone has added a number of highlight-reel sixes to his burgeoning collection on this trip, quipping “the change of bat sponsor has given me a better bat”, but he admitted it took him a while to find his feet at professional level.
“I certainly tried to as a little boy,” he said when asked about hitting sixes growing up. “I think my little boy stage lasted a little bit longer than it should!
“Many people got very frustrated with me growing up as a kid. Even the first couple of years of professional cricket so it is nice to be finally sort of maturing a little bit.
“One of the big things I pride myself on is the ability to adapt to different situations and different roles. I’ve also got a natural swing which is something I’ve been blessed with.”
The Netherlands are poised to include left-armer Fred Klaassen and fellow seamer Paul van Meekeren on Wednesday. Klaassen missed the first two ODIs because of his Vitality Blast commitments with Kent while Van Meekeren returns to contention after a back injury.
