THE cricketing pride of Barrow faces a race to be match fit for the T20 World Cup in Australia, according to the team's acting captain.

Explosive Barrow-born England batter Liam Livingstone is likely to arrive at the T20 World Cup in Australia 'undercooked' after his ankle injury but should be fit to play in at least one warm-up game, Moeen Ali has said.

The Barrovian has been ruled out of England's current T20 series in Pakistan after sustaining the ankle injury during the Hundred tournament, and has been working hard on his rehabilitation at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, in recent days.

England have been unsteady with the bat at times in the series against Pakistan, with 23-year-old right-handed batter, and ex-Sedbergh school pupil Harry Brook stepping up to make some impressive knocks in a relatively inexperienced eleven, so England management will surely be delighted to welcome the dynamic Livingstone back into the lineup.

He is expected to travel to Australia next week to link up with the rest of the England squad, who will fly there from Lahore on Monday after the seventh and final T20I against Pakistan.

READ MORE: England cricketer pays a visit to his old Barrow primary school

England will then play three matches against Australia and one official warm-up against Pakistan before starting their World Cup campaign against Afghanistan on October 22 in Perth.

"I know he's speaking to Jos (Buttler)and I actually messaged him a couple of days ago to see how he was going," Moeen said on Tuesday. 

"He said it's getting there and he's on the mend. 

"Hopefully, in Australia, he'll probably play the last warm-up game or something like that.

"When you do your ankle, it's not easy. 

"I've done mine at the IPL and once you've rolled it once, apparently it keeps rolling.

"You keep rolling it throughout your career so you've got to be really careful. 

"I've done mine twice and I think he's done his three times now.

"We're hoping that he's ready.

"He might be a little bit undercooked but he'll pick it up quickly and it's actually not been a bad thing for him to have a bit of a break from cricket."