uk Won 194-7 (Livingston 87, Bethel 44, Salt 39, Short 5-22) australia 193 for 6 with 3 wickets (Fraser-McGurk 50, Inglis 42, Head 31)
Bethell received his first England cap from Livingstone on Wednesday and was mentored by him in the Hundred at Birmingham Phoenix. They influenced each other. When Livingstone was up against Australia’s weak seam attack, Bethell broke down their spinners, including four consecutive boundaries from Adam Zampa to stop the chase.
Bethel fell with 25 runs needed and lost his off-stump during the reverse sweep, but Livingstone took England home. Livingstone, who has been tasked with batting at No. 4 in a young side, has played for England’s future this week, top-scoring twice and taking five wickets from six overs.
This meant that Livingstone had answered a long-standing charge against him. He had often shown his talent in international cricket, but had rarely won a match for England. He could not hit the decisive blow – he was bowled out trying to hit a six at short in a tie – but this was still a decisive innings, with five sixes.
He sent a loud, sell-out Cardiff crowd home happy. “I hit the ball better, but in terms of the situation, the scenario, I’m not interested in scoring in a defeat,” Livingstone said. “It’s all about winning the game. I want to win the game for England and I feel like I did that today.”
The rooster crows
Fraser-McGurk got off to a flying start, hitting three successive boundaries off Sam Curran as Australia reached 67-1 in the Powerplay. He initially struggled to catch Adil Rashid, but he grounded a floaty leg-break back to land for a straight six. But Rashid then cleaned up Short with the iconic googly for 28.
Livingston held tight in the middle, with Fraser-McGurk and Marcus Stoinis caught by Jamie Overton on long-ons, but before that Fraser-McGurk had audaciously lobbed a profligate Topley deep into the box for six points.
Carse hit Inglis for four in a row (42 runs) but caught Tim David behind on the last ball. He finished with two 26s in his first international since being suspended for betting violations, replacing the rested Jofra Archer. But Overton struck Cameron Green at deep midwicket and Aaron Hardie punished Curran in the last over to take Australia to 193.
England’s second half woes
Salt and Livingstone were ticking along, but Zampa was briefly put on the brakes, and Head was rewarded with an unconventional change of bowling, using short off-spin against the two right-handed batsmen. But Livingstone and Bedell were surprisingly effective, starting steadily before changing gears to take down Stoinis and Zampa respectively.
England did their best to ruin the situation, and Short took five fours for the first time in his 233-match professional career. Bethell was bowled backwards, Curran chose extra cover, Livingstone ran past the straight one and Carse chose mid-on. With Short on a hat-trick, Rashid drove the winning single to point.
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98
