Liam Livingstone feels he is benefitting from his unhappy time sat on the bench at the Indian Premier League after smashing Lancashire to a seven-wicket T20 Blast win over Durham.
The 32-year-old hit an unbeaten 85 off just 31 balls in Tuesday’s rain-reduced 10 overs game at Chester-le-Street to add to his 81 off 37 balls against Glamorgan at Blackpool on Sunday.
With his eight sixes, the all-rounder broke Lancashire coach Steven Croft’s record for most T20 maximums for the Red Rose county and he now has 163.
Although Livingstone was a frustrated spectator for most of his stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad during the winter, he used the time in the nets to improve playing against spin.
“I came back from the IPL really hungry to play some cricket, having spent a lot of time sat on the bench,” the former England one-day international captain told Radio Lancashire.
“I worked hard on my game in the nets, trying to put it all into practice.
“The over against [Callum] Parkinson in the power play, without the three months at the IPL, working a lot on my game against spin, I don’t think I could have done that last year.
“I’ve just been trying to get better at what I wasn’t very good at, which was playing against spin and hitting seamers over the offside.
“I felt there were a couple of shots at Blackpool I hit over extra cover and I even hit a couple over mid-off off a spinner today, which I don’t think I would have done over the last couple of years.
“I knew I wasn’t going to play much in the IPL, so it was a good chance to strip it back, bat a lot in the nets against really good spinners – and their spinners out there are as good as you will face in the world.
“It was some great practice and looking back now, I made the most out of a difficult three months being sat on the sidelines, not being able to do what I love.”
Livingstone, who also bowled Durham opener Alex Lees, says Lancashire badly needed the win after three successive losses.
He enjoyed opening the batting in the truncated match and said: “I’ve played a bit of T10 cricket so that helped. Yeah, it was good fun. We needed a win, that’s for sure.
“Because it was such a good wicket, you just try to get your best players in to try and face as many balls as possible. I think that’s pretty much the best way to go.”