Barrow’s Liam Livingstone fired Lancashire to T20 Blast Finals Day with a stellar knock against Kent.
After a month of action in The Hundred, Livingstone was back playing for the Red Roses on Saturday (September 6) as they faced off against Kent Spitfires in the quarter finals of the Vitality Blast at Old Trafford, Manchester.
Livingstone’s 85 off 45 balls, including four fours and seven sixes, at a strike rate of nearly 190, secured victory for Lancs, who chased down Kent’s score of 153 off their 20 overs with nine balls to spare.
The Barrovian also starred with the ball for the Red Roses in the first innings, claiming the two wickets of Kent captain Sam Billings and the Spitfire’s No. 6 batsman Joey Evison.
After the game, Livingstone spoke to Sky Sports, touching on Lancashire’s game plan going into the game.
He said: “We tried to keep the stumps in play as much as we could and took wickets at key times – they [Kent] were probably five or 10 runs short.”
The batting all-rounder continued by reflecting on his own innings, touching on how being struck on the helmet whilst batting impacted him.
“The blow sharpened me up a little bit, and I enjoy going in during the powerplay, and I feel batting down the order gives you experience of how to pace and innings,” he said.
Lancashire, who also boast England legend Sir James Anderson within their ranks this season, will now make their way to Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Saturday (September 13) for Finals Day to face Somerset in the semi-final.
In the other semi-final of the day, Northamptonshire will play Hampshire.
The winners of both games will go toe-to-toe in the usual box-office final on Saturday night.
Following last Saturday’s game, Livingstone looked ahead to the weekend: “We’ve done really well over my time in getting to finals day, but we’ve only won it once 10 years ago, so hopefully we can go on and do it again.”
