Morecambe captain reflects on day his side denied Livingstone a century

Mark Woodhead was the Morecambe skipper in 2011 when Liam Livingstone missed out on a first league century for Barrow due to deliberate wides. This is his account...

I remember the incident with Liam well, but it surprised me that Liam did, given the amount of cricket he’s played and the progress he has made since.

The game was played on what could best be described as a green seamer at Barrow and by memory we limped to 150 having been 20 odd for six, then got their pro Pieter Malan, who had been a prolific opening bat for them, very early.

As captain I set an attacking field for this young lad that had been making headlines for Cumberland at such a young age. Liam immediately took the game by the scruff of the neck and soon started playing some outrageous reverse sweeps and ramp shots, which we’d never really seen before.

We had heard of his ability as a promising allrounder, who then balled accurate legspin too, but we had never been on the end of one of his innings and he continued to go hard at our bowlers that included Anwar Ali, a quick bowler who would go on to play for Pakistan.

Liam was never short of his own confidence and always had something to say as his innings progressed and so did his repertoire of shots. This made the bowlers and myself feel like he was verging on the side of arrogance. His side had reached a 100 or so with Liam on 70, when he began to farm the strike, with his side just three wickets down!

He then started pointing to where he was going to strike the ball, before it had been bowled and his ability meant he carried out the threat (which I’m sure we would have appreciated more were we not on the receiving end).

It was at that point that a couple of the senior players felt he was being disrespectful to us and wasn’t deserving of his 100. Liam was on 89 and 10 runs were still needed for victory, but the plan was to ball four wides early in the over not to make it too obvious.

Unfortunately the first ball was bowled within Liam’s reach, who deposited it to the boundary to reduce the equation to six needed. When the next ball went for 4 wides it was obvious what our intentions were, as he knocked off the winning runs with another boundary to end on 97 not out.

I’m not proud that I was part of the plan to deny Liam’s first Northern League 100, as he was head and shoulders above anyone else who batted that day, but it’s amazing how you think in the heat of the game. I’ve seen some very unprofessional things on a cricket field over the years, from people I wouldn’t have expected it from (and some that I would expect it from!) and I can only put it down to a spur of the moment action.

It was then walking off the field that it we were made aware of his dad’s 50th birthday the same day, so that did sour the moment for me, as my dad had been a massively proud fan of my career and I know how gutted he would have been for me.

The mood of the crowd meant it wasn’t appropriate for us to stay for the usual pint after the game, so we stopped down the road and it was only then that it really hit home that we had let his antics influence our actions…

The following season I made a point of apologising to both Liam and his dad and they were both gracious in accepting my apology and the credit doesn’t stop there.

The following season we beat Barrow late in the season to theoretically stop them winning the league. The result was a real shock, but the Barrow players and spectators gave us a very respectful applause off the pitch, to show the real spirit of cricket.

I’d like to say I’ve learnt from this experience and have always acted with integrity on the cricket pitch, but I don’t think there is anyone that can honestly say they haven’t done something they later regretted, once they’ve crossed the white rope, no matter what the standard.

I’ve since watched Liam’s career with pride, not because I know him or not because I feel I have shaped his career in any way, shape or form, but it’s nice to know that myself, as an average club cricketer had the opportunity to play against such a good player.

I’ve been lucky enough to play against Andrew Flintoff, Luis Reece, James Anyon, Tom Smith, Richard Gleeson, Steven Croft and Alex Davies in our league, before they went on to play county cricket.

And it is to each of their credit that when you catch up with them, when watching them at County Grounds or they come back to the their clubs, each have been very respectful and had time to chat.

They are clearly grateful of the league grounding they received before going on to greater things, making a career out of the game we all love.