Shane Warne champions Liam Livingstone for England Test call-up at the Kia Oval against India

Give 1 Sec To Rate This Article post

“It’s in an amazing touch, on a flat wicket at The Oval, I think it might be time for it to come in”; Shane Warne calls for Liam Livingstone to join the England test team for Test 4 against India, but believes that Sam Curran could lose his place.

Should Liam Livingstone join the England test team? Shane Warne thinks so

Shane Warne believes England should consider adding Liam Livingstone to the test team for Test 4 against India.

Livingstone has been in fantastic form in white ball cricket, breaking England’s fastest century during the IT20 series against Pakistan, shining for Lancashire in the Vitality Blast and was named Men’s MVP in The Hundred after starring in the Birmingham Phoenix.

England may have to make a change to their median order for the Test in the Kia Oval, which begins Thursday, with Jos Buttler set to leave the team at some point to be in for the birth of his second child.

Livingstone hasn’t played a red ball game since early June and is averaging just 10.83 in five county championship games this summer, but with a 38.69 career average in first-class cricket and given his form, Warne thinks he’s worth it. worth a call. until.

“Is there any chance that Livingstone will enter?” he said. “He’s averaging 40 first-class cricket, he’s got an amazing touch, on flat ground at The Oval, I think it might be time for him to come in, play ‘The Beast’!”

If Buttler is unavailable and England go for Livingstone’s wild card option, Ollie Pope would be expected to come sideways on his home field with Jonny Bairstow taking over behind the stumps.

England’s other selection problem revolves around the bowling attack with the possibility of Mark Wood being fit to return after a shoulder injury, while Saqib Mahmood will also push for a test debut.

If England make a change, Warne believes Sam Curran could be the man to lead the way after struggling to make an impact so far on the series.

“I don’t think Sam Curran plays.” “Being his fourth player, hitting number 8, he hasn’t scored a hundred, he hasn’t won five in test cricket. I know he’s a very good cricketer, but I don’t know what he’s on the team for, he’s a little ‘bits and pieces’ for me for test cricket.

“So I’d like to see something more specific, be it a Mahmood, a Wood, or a roulette wheel. If you get to The Oval and you think it’s going to spin, maybe Jack Leach or [Matt] Parkinson, something like that.

“If it’s normal then [Craig] Overton can also hit and catch on slips, so it’s your pitcher who can add some lower-order runs. [Ollie] Robinson can hit, too. So Curran out and another spin or a fast pitcher. “

While Wood would add a different dimension to England’s attack with his ability to regularly pitch over 90 mph, Nasser Hussain argues that caution may be required ahead of this winter’s Ashes following long-term injuries to traders. speed Jofra Archer and Olly Stone.

“The only problem with Wood is that with Stone and Archer injuries, with Broad injured and with a series of Ashes on the way, they just feel like with that lack of rhythm, they might need to wrap Wood in some cotton. .

“We are going to need rhythm in Australia. In these conditions, as we just saw, they have a lot of useful bowlers, they have Saqib and you don’t want Wood to go down a month or two before the ashes and you run out of wood, no stone. , without an archer.

“How they handle Wood will be absolutely vital.”

Warne is also expecting India to make a change to its bowling unit as its aim is to rebound from a heavy defeat at Emerald Headingley with Ishant Sharma’s place under threat.

“Ishant never seemed to have a rhythm, he was working most of the time,” he said. “It didn’t seem threatening, so, to me, it’s pretty simple: [Ravinchandran] Ashwin is your roulette on the side [Ravindra] Jadeja is a kind of closing room.

“If you lose the toss and the bowl, even though Jadeja’s pins are spinning, he can hold an end no matter the conditions. He just removes the conditions of the game. I think Jadeja could do as good a job as the fourth. I’d do if they missed the pitch and bowled.

“Deepen your batting, you have three seamers and two spinners. I don’t care what the conditions are, whether I spin or not, those five pitchers are going to challenge England’s batsmen because you always want to pick your top five bowlers.”

Watch the first day of the fourth test between England and India at the Kia Oval starting at 10am Thursday at Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event.

Leave a Comment