Agency :
Liam Livingstone’s stunning unbeaten 62 paved the way for England’s colossal 186-run win over world champions Australia in the fourth one-day international at Lord’s on Friday.
The victory pulled a youthful England ODI side level at 2-2 in a five-match series ahead of Sunday’s finale at Bristol.
Livingstone’s whirlwind 27-ball innings took England to 312-5 in a match reduced by rain to 39 overs per side after captain Harry Brook just fell short of successive hundred with 87.
Australia made a sound start to their daunting chase but lost six wickets for 28 runs in slumping from 68-0 to 96-6.
They were eventually dismissed for 126 inside 25 overs, with paceman Matthew Potts taking an ODI-best 4-38.
Fit-again opener Travis Head’s 34 was the top score in an Australia innings where only four batsmen made it into double figures.
This was England’s second-biggest win at this level over arch-rivals Australia in terms of runs, following their mammoth 242-run success at Trent Bridge in 2018.
“We’ve taken all the positives and the momentum and brought them here,” player-of-the-match Brook, 25, told Sky Sports. “Livingstone, we know what he’s capable of and he showed that tonight.”
“We just identify the times we need to apply pressure.”Australia captain Mitchell Marsh accepted his side had been outclassed.
“We were a bit off today but fair play to England they put us under pressure,” he said. “They out-played us today… Liam Livingstone played a gem of an innings.”
England were 16 runs shy of 300 when Mitchell Starc began to bowl the last over of their innings.
But Livingstone, renowned as a big-hitter, then hammered the left-arm fast quick for 28 runs — the most expensive over by an Australian bowler in men’s ODIs — including four sixes in five balls, before finishing with a four.
Livingstone started the 39th over by driving Starc into the pavilion for six.
And two balls later, Livingstone lofted Starc for six over midwicket and next ball drove him for another six. The fifth ball also went for six, via a monster pull, before Livingstone scythed the last ball of the over for four.