England vs Pakistan live: score and latest updates from World Cup warm-up

And it’s England against Pakistan from Brisbane. Here’s Tim Wigmore to set the scene.

Liam Livingstone is set to make his England return in today’s warm-up game against Pakistan in Brisbane, the final match before the World Cup, putting Harry Brook’s place in the World Cup opener at risk.

Livingstone has been out since August with an ankle injury. He has stepped-up his training in Australia, with England pleased with his progress. If he comes through the clash with Pakistan unscathed, he will be primed to make his full international return in England’s opening World Cup game, against Afghanistan in Perth on Saturday.

But Livingstone’s return would put Brook under major threat. While Brook thrived during England’s recent tour of Pakistan, showing his power and range of shots to score 238 runs at an average of 79.3 and strike rate of 163, he is the least established member of England’s batting line-up. The chances of Brook playing in tandem with Livingstone seem to have receded, with England currently leaning toward playing five specialist bowlers in their XI. This would entail using the allrounders Sam Curran and Chris Woakes at number seven and eight.

Brook’s case for selection is weakened by a poor record in Australia. In ten T20 matches Down Under, he has made just 57 runs at an average of 6.33 apiece, though England’s management still believe that Australia is a good fit for Brook’s talents.

The case for picking Livingstone at Perth is strengthened by his outstanding record against Afghanistan’s vaunted spin attack. Against leg spinner Rashid Khan, who is widely recognised as the best current bowler in the game, Livingstone has scored 115 runs from just 65 balls. These runs have been made at a dynamic strike rate of 177.

England could easily accommodate both Livingstone and Brook together if they reverted to the strategy of only picking four specialist bowlers, using Livingstone, Moeen Ali and Stokes to share the fifth bowler’s complement. Moeen’s outstanding recent form has confirmed that he will retain his place for the World Cup. 

We will see how the team gets on once the match starts at 9am UK time. It is being played at Brisbane, where it’s just coming up for half past five in the evening, which is to say that the game gets going there at 6pm local time. It is quite humid there and they’ve had a few showers so we will have to see how we get on.

News of the conditions, teams and toss coming up soon as we have that.