The Hundred 2022: Ankle injury rules out Birmingham Pheonix's Liam Livingstone from remaining games
England and Birmingham Phoenix all-rounder Liam Livingstone will miss the remaining games of The Hundred 2022 due to an ankle injury. The spin-bowling all-rounder's injury setback comes after Manchester Originals' Jos Buttler was ruled out of the tournament due to a calf injury.
Livingstone, the tournament's Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2021, has scored 173 runs in six matches this year at 34.60 and maintained a strike rate of 145.37. However, an ankle injury means it's the end of the road for him. The England cricketer took to Twitter to express his emotions after being ruled out. He wrote:
"Gutted to have been ruled out of @thehundred… a tournament I have loved playing in! I’ll be doing everything I can to be back out there ASAP! But for now I’ll be supporting Birmingham Phoenix from the side!"
Gutted to have been ruled out of @thehundred… a tournament I have loved playing in! I’ll be doing everything I can to be back out there ASAP! But for now I’ll be supporting Birmingham Phoenix from the side! 🧡🧡
The right-handed batter's injury is bad news for the national side, with a limited-overs tour of Pakistan and the T20 World Cup on the horizon. England's white-ball set-up had hoped The Hundred would give their key players an opportunity to find their touch after a disappointing white-ball summer.
However, a host of significant players are down with injuries. Opener Jason Roy missed Oval Invincibles' fixture against the London Spirit on Saturday night (August 27) due to stiffness in the lower back. Pacers Chris Jordan and Tymal Mills have picked up finger and toe injuries, respectively, while Richard Gleeson hasn't yet played a game in this year's competition after some niggles.
Reece Topley has opted out of the event to manage his workload, while Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse, Saqib Mahmood, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood are yet to recover from their injuries.
England are expected to announce their squad for the seven-game T20 series in Pakistan next week. Hence, the scale of their injury crisis could mean they carry a larger touring party than usual.
Liam Livingstone struggled for England in the white-ball fixtures this summer
Meanwhile, Livingstone was amongst the players struggling to get going with the bat throughout this summer. The Lancashire cricketer failed to score a fifty in 11 white-ball games, with England also failing to win a limited-overs series. The best the hosts could manage was a drawn ODI series against South Africa.
Liam Livingstone v Jasprit Bumrah in the powerplay didn't feel like a very fair fight, and he's the fourth to go for a duck. 26-5...
Hence, it will be interesting to see how Jos Buttler & Co. cope up with the expectations during the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. They were the most dominant side in the previous edition, but lost to New Zealand in the semi-final in Abu Dhabi.