Liam Livingstone will be key for England in ODI World Cup, says Eoin Morgan

England’s World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan has lauded Liam Livingstone for his match-winning effort of 95* against New Zealand in the 2nd ODI of the four match series.

Livingstone rescued England from 55/5 in a rain-curtailed 34-over game and helped the team reach a 226-run total for the loss of 7 wickets. England were rocked by a magnificent spell from returning Trent Boult but the side later recovered, courtesy of solid lower order contributions from Moeen Ali, Livingstone and Sam Curran. Morgan picked out Livingstone from the effort and called him a smart cricketer.

“He is a smart cricketer,” former England white captain Morgan said of Livingstone as quoted by Sky Sports.

“He is a key part of this 50-over team because of his all-round ability. In the field, he is unbelievably good and his ability to bowl both finger spin and wrist spin makes him a dead cert to play every game,” Morgan further added.

The batter, who bowls both off and leg spin had spoke ahead of the match and had said that he was working on his bowling skills.

“â€æI work on my bowling to become a genuine all-rounder. It does not come as naturally to me as batting does,” said Livingstone.

“I have changed a few things with my bowling, it sounds weird but I am in more of a development phase. I only made the change about three weeks ago so hopefully I willl keep getting better and better,” he further added.

The middle-order batter did not need to bowl today as David Willer and Reece Topley dominated the proceedings to hand England a brilliant comeback win in the series.