Lightning Liam Livingstone must learn that with great power comes great responsibility – or England’s most potent weapon will face the axe

No one encapsulates the frustrations of following England’s limited-overs cricket right now quite like Liam Livingstone.

Of course, there is irony in picking out the one man acknowledged as the architect of the single victory to date here against India, but Livingstone is this England team in microcosm.

Occasionally, the taking of high risk will pay off as it did in Rajkot a couple of weeks ago when with the Twenty20 series on the line, Livingstone swung from the hip to provide the kind of total the tourists’ bowlers could defend.

Rightly, he drew praise for striking three sixes in four balls off Ravi Bishnoi, altering the course of the innings in the process. He’d provided the correct solution to the problem in front of him. A situation tailor-made for counter-attacking, he counter-attacked. Eight wickets down, England with 127 did not have enough runs on the board. It was the proverbial shit or bust.

In Nagpur on Thursday, though, he was faced with a very different looking situation. Not quite three overs had passed since Jos Buttler’s departure; 87 balls remained in the innings; Jacob Bethell was set on 30 at the other end.

Half the side dismissed, it was the time to knock it around. Yet Livingstone reached into his tool bag and once more pulled out the sledgehammer when the scalpel was required, wandering down the pitch and feathering an ugly wipe at debutant fast bowler Harshit Rana.

And that’s the problem with England in this teething stage of Brendon McCullum’s all-format tenure. No one can say that the messaging has been anything less than consistent, but while the removal of responsibility has won them one match in six, it has in part contributed to losing five – and a one in six ratio isn’t going to win a Champions Trophy.

As Joe Root showed last year by putting months of playing loose in Test cricket behind him with a more judicious approach, batting is about giving yourself the best chance.

Livingstone himself showed as much late last year when he responded to being axed from September’s series versus Australia with a brilliant hundred against West Indies in Antigua. He couldn’t afford to make a mistake and didn’t, keeping his composure as the run rate in a record chase at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium climbed into double figures, before guiding his team home with breathing room via a savage late assault.

He later said that although he could have done more in the previous two years, he didn’t always get the responsibility he wanted.

Yes, it was an innings, displaying the kind of pacing observers of his early career County Championship performances would recognise. Since time, though, Livingstone has done little to debunk the theory that he is a one-trick pony.

His power – as a player who has hit more sixes than fours in an England shirt (107-106) – is unquestioned. But power comes with great responsibility when you are chosen to play for your country.

England’s current rhetoric does not reflect this. With every defeat here, they have doubled down on their positive intent. On one hand, the unequivocal backing of this group of players, allowing them room for failure, is commendable, yet running towards the danger and running towards defeat are too often feeling like one and the same thing.

There are caveats. India are the world’s best one-day team by a margin and owe their success to a similar gung-ho template. Last week, their coach Gautam Gambler spoke about T20 scores of 250-260 becoming their norm. Such is the quality of their spin attack that England will travel with confidence to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy in 10 days’ time should they win either or both of the matches in Cuttack on Sundy and Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

If they do not, and there is no up-curve in a difficult Group B featuring a February 26 date with Afghanistan’s excellent bowling unit between fixtures against heavyweights Australia and South Africa, then some of the recent calls on personnel will come into focus.

Sam Curran, an all-rounder named man of the tournament at 2022’s T20 World Cup, and Will Jacks – a player who is yet to make the most of his international opportunities but at 26, five years Livingstone’s junior, has time on his side – remain on the outer. Neither are likely to be summoned if Jamie Smith fails to recover from a calf injury. Mail Sport understands Somerset’s Tom Banton is favoured. But with every franchise 50 their cases become stronger.

Things are not yet at crisis point, but without better application they soon will be.