England opener Jason Roy heaped praise on the all-rounder Liam Livingstone for his contributions with the ball during his team’s 8-wicket win over Bangladesh on Wednesday (October 27) in the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 in Abu Dhabi.
On a day when the experienced leg-spinner Adil Rashid returned wicketless, Livingstone took the key wickets of Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah in the middle overs to return with impressive figures of 2/15 before Tymal Mills wreaked havoc on Bangladesh's batting line-up with 3/27 to restrict them to 124/9 on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.
Chasing 125, Roy played a knock of 61 runs off just 38 balls to take England over the line inside 14 overs to help the side remain unbeaten so far in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2021.
After the game, Roy reckoned that Livingstone, who can bowl both leg and off-spin, would be a vital cog for England in the sluggish conditions as the T20 World Cup progresses in the UAE.
Roy said at the post-match conference, “He's doing extremely well for us, and holding up an average is extremely positive. Especially as the tournament goes on where the pitches might get a little bit harder against spin, who knows, he might have more of a role to play.”
He continued, “Yeah, he's been working extremely hard. It's been great having Moeen and Rash (Rashid) on the side as well, and he learns a lot from them and Jeetan Patel, our spin coach, as well, has been giving him some words of wisdom. It's paying off for him.”
England bowled extremely well in the match on Wednesday as Bangladesh played 52 dot balls in their innings in Abu Dhabi.
Roy said, “We bowled extremely well. Take nothing away from the bowlers. I don't think we took too much of a foot wrong. We took our catches and fielded and bowled really well. It was a pitch that was on the slow side, and if you bowled straight and on a good length, it was quite hard to get away.”
On England’s successful chase against Bangladesh, the opener added, “We got off to a great start with the bat and then just capitalized on a lower total. We kept it very simple and stuck to what we do best. We don't look too much into what a lot of other teams do. We make sure that everything in our camp is right and we're doing our roles right. And today was another day that we bowled extremely well and we were clinical with the bat.”
Roy also opened up about England’s success mantra by saying: “Our camp has been together since 2015 and we've created bonds outside of cricket and on the field, which I think plays a huge part in traveling the world and playing good cricket.”
He concluded, “We understand our roles in the team as individuals and as teammates. There's a lot of trust, a lot of friendships, but yeah, we are just a confident side that always wants to get better.”
(With PTI Inputs)
