'Don't believe we deserved to lose': England star makes bizarre claim after record-breaking Australia win
Updated . First published at
England star Liam Livingstone has reacted to his devastating opening defeat against Australia in the ICC Champions Trophy, claiming they didn't deserve to lose.
After the Poms posted 8-351 in the first innings, thanks largely to a century from Ben Duckett, it looked like it was going to be an uphill battle for the green and gold.
Things got off to a rocky start in the chase as the Aussies lost top order stars Travis Head and Steve Smith cheaply, but an unbeaten match-winning ton from Josh Inglis got his side over the line.
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In the process, Australia broke the record for the largest chase in tournament history.
Josh Inglis celebrates a century against England. Getty
However, according to Livingstone - who managed just 14 with the bat - England's performance should have been good enough to get the chocolates.
"That was probably the frustrating thing - we did a hell of a lot really well," he told BBC.
"I don't personally believe that performance deserved to lose.
"There was a couple of moments in the game that we probably lost, but I felt like we were ahead of the game. At the end of the day, if you come out on the wrong side of the result … we've got to win both games now, it's pretty simple.
"What do we need to do to get that win? I think if we keep producing what we did yesterday, we're a hell of a long way to doing that.
"If we just refine a few different skills, we could have got 15 or 20 more with the bat ... but then again, would that have been enough? Who knows."
England players during the loss to Australia. Getty
England will now need to defeat both Afghanistan and South Africa to keep their hopes of making the knockout stage alive.
Livingstone admits their clash on Wednesday night (AEDT) against a spin-heavy Afghan side will be a tricky one.
"Afghanistan are a really good team," he said.
"They've got a lot of match winners in their team and it's a different challenge, because they have obviously got a lot of spinners."
Australia's next game will come against the Proteas on Tuesday night.
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