Liam Livingstone looking forward to entertaining fans in the Hundred again

Liam Livingstone is ready to jump back on the Hundred bandwagon with Birmingham Phoenix and entertain the next generation of cricket fans.

The all-rounder was last year’s MVP for the men’s tournament, topping the scoring charts with 348 runs and also producing the highest individual score with 92 not out against Northern Superchargers.

It was not enough to help Birmingham win the inaugural edition of the Hundred, with Southern Brave clipping the wings of Phoenix in last August’s final at Lord’s, but England all-rounder Livingstone is raring to go ahead of their opener at Trent Rockets this weekend.

He said: “It was amazing to be a part of, considering we started the tournament not knowing what it was all about. I guess the way it snowballed throughout the summer was pretty cool.

“I just loved the tournament and the entertainment factor of it. I guess that was built in from Moeen (Ali) as captain and Daniel Vettori as the coach that we want to go out and entertain people. We wanted to go out and have fun with a smile on our faces.

“We grew up as kids dreaming of being able to play in front of packed stadiums and to be able to entertain people. It is quite nice to look back and see we were inspiring the next generation to pick up a bat or ball and play cricket.

“I have certainly seen that over the last year because, even when I go home now, there is a lot more people who don’t really know about cricket but talk about the Hundred. I guess that was what the tournament was created for and it has certainly had that impact.”

Birmingham captain Ali concurred and was also one of the stars of the 2021 competition with an impressive tally of 225 runs from only seven innings.

The franchise league was created by the England and Wales