ODI World Cup: Livingstone 'dead cert' for playing XI: Morgan

Legendary England World Cup winning skipper Eoin Morgan said that all-rounder Liam Livingstone is a "dead cert" or a certain starter for England in the ICC Cricket World Cup, which will take place from October 5 in India.

In the first ODI of four-match series between England and New Zealand on Friday, Livingstone smashed 52 in 40 balls with three fours and three sixes during an eight-wicket loss to the Kiwis in Cardiff. This included three successive big hits off pacer Kyle Jamieson.

Livingstone scored just 100 runs in his six innings at The Hundred, with the best score of 28. But he found form at Cardiff, at the right time just before the World Cup.

Morgan called Livingstone a "smart cricketer" whose all-round abilities make him important to the team.

"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."

The all-rounder said that he is working on his bowling to become a genuine all-rounder. "…I 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 will keep getting better and better."

"It is a technical thing I have been working on to try and get a bit more shape on the ball, to ultimately try and get more wickets and become a bigger threat," he concluded.