He was Player of the Series against Australia and led England to victory in Cardiff

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Sep-2024Liam Livingstone has become the No.1-ranked men’s T20I allrounder following his Player of the Series performances against Australia.He has toppled Marcus Stoinis by climbing seven places on the back of 124 runs and five wickets in the two matches which took place with the decider at Old Trafford washed out.Related

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The series saw Livingstone move up England’s order to No. 4 having been used as a finisher during the T20 World Cup earlier this year and he enjoyed the chance to build an innings, leading England to a series-levelling victory with a powerful 87 off 47 balls in Cardiff.”It’s up to me to make sure I try to do as well as I can and give them a bit of a headache for the next series,” he said after the first T20I where he made 37 and took 3 for 22 in defeat. “I don’t think you’ll see anybody that wants to bat lower down the order.”I want that responsibility. I want to try to win games of cricket for England, and the higher up the order, the more chance you have of doing that. There’s less people that can play that role [at No. 6] and sometimes you’ve got to take it on the chin… [but] this is a chance for me to stake my claim.”His bowling proved equally important as he formed a key spin pairing with Adil Rashid which twice saw England claw back rapid Australia starts.Livingstone’s form has seen him earn a recall to the ODI squad for the five-match series against Australia as a replacement for the injured Jos Buttler.Elsewhere Travis Head cemented his spot at No. 1 in the batting rankings with 90 runs off just 37 balls across two innings in the series. Adam Zampa moved up one spot in the bowling rankings meaning the top six places are filled by spinners.Click here for the full ICC player rankings or the ICC team rankings