T20 World Cup: England ready to nurse Liam Livingstone through hectic schedule

England’s crazy schedule hasn’t exactly increased Liam Livingstone’s chances of being fit for the World Cup, but he’s ready to commit and take on Afghanistan.

In the early stages of this tour England flew from Perth to Canberra, to Brisbane and now the six hours back to Perth for Saturday’s opener.

And Livingstone had to protect his damaged left ankle every time he got on a plane.

“Flying hasn’t made it easy,” Livingstone admitted after coming back with a bang in the last friendly against Pakistan. “Every time I fly, I have to compress it.

“It just means the physio wraps it up so it doesn’t swell. The swelling is what limits my range of motion, making it a bit more painful to exercise.

“So I’ll be training pretty much every morning and icing all afternoon. It’s been annoying, but there’s a World Cup for England to play for, so all the dull days are worth it.”

Now it remains to be seen whether England, who are almost embarrassed by wealth as they contemplate their first squad, will put a stop to such an important player if he admits he is still only ’90 per cent’ fit.

Their hearts were in their mouths when Livingstone slid on the ankle he damaged in bizarre circumstances while making 28 from 16 balls, including one of the biggest sixes he’s even hit, during an otherwise pointless final practice match at the Gabba on Monday. .

But Livingstone, the maker of the fastest T20 hundred in England history, saw his fall as a good thing.

“It was actually nice to slip because it felt good afterwards and that gives me a little bit of confidence,” he said.

“Since I had an injury for 12 weeks and we are only at the end of week seven, I am quite happy with where I am and we still have a few days before the first game. So I didn’t really want to go for leather in this game.

“I just wanted to make sure I could go back to playing cricket and get through my bowling, which was my main concern. My percussion has been going well since I started back. It feels good and I’ve put a lot of work into getting where I am now, so I’m going to keep going.”

England has certainly had its share of freak injuries. Jonny Bairstow broke his leg on the golf course and now here Reece Topley has ended his World Cup by kicking the ‘Toblerone’ foam boundary marker and rolling his ankle during practice.

Livingstone’s injury, which he sustained while playing for Birmingham in the Hundred in August, was equally unfortunate. “I fell off a curb in the morning when I was having breakfast,” he said. “I took a wrong step and fell.”

In any case, his prognosis is positive, even if England will not take any risk on him on Saturday. They could easily stay with Harry Brook at five and play Sam Curran as an extra all-rounder at seven.

But they’ll be tempted to throw Livingstone back into the fray after seeing him clear the Gabba roof with one of his six on Monday.

He is known as one of the greatest hitters in the game and the blow rivaled his huge hit over the new roof of the rugby stand at Headingley, also against Pakistan, last year.

“Brooky took the mickey out of me when we were actually hitting and said to me ‘this is a stadium you haven’t vacated,’” Livingstone said. “If there was ever a wicket to do it at this it was nice to get a few off the middle to get going.”

But was it bigger than the monster hit in Leeds? Unfortunately, there were no measuring devices at the Gabba to compare the two. “I don’t really know,” he added. “Let’s just say it was, just so I can brag about it to the boys…”