Stand-in captain Liam Livingstone says England have to “get up to speed as quickly as possible” and be smarter with the bat after an eight-wicket thumping by the West Indies in the first One Day International in Antigua.
With captain Jos Buttler out injured and several Test stars unavailable, England gave debuts to Jordan Cox, Dan Mousley, Jamie Overton and John Turner but they were all out for just 209 in 45.1 overs.
Livingstone himself top scored with 48 from 49 balls but Sam Curran (37) was the only other batter to pass 30.
England’s efforts were put into perspective by opener Evin Lewis’ 94 off 69 balls, which helped the Windies chase down a rain-adjusted target of 157 in 35 overs with ease.
Livingstone insisted England will not change tack for Saturday’s second ODI, which they must win to keep the series alive, but he has suggested his batters in particular can adapt better.
“We’ve got to get up to speed as quickly as possible,” Livingstone said after his England captaincy debut ended in a heavy loss.
“We had four debuts and they’ll have learnt a hell of a lot from what they experienced and hopefully they’ll come on from that.
“We’re not going to take a backward step but sometimes we’ve got to be a little bit more smart. Hopefully conditions will be a little bit different (on Saturday) and we can go again.”
Livingstone elected not to call upon seam bowling all-rounder Jamie Overton, who was essentially a specialist batter at number eight and got a golden duck after being given out lbw on review.
“He’s not fit to play a full role,” Livingstone said. “He’s coming back from a big (back) injury. We’re just trying to nurse him back in. We had three seam options so we didn’t really think we’d need him.”
England have now lost 12 of their last 18 ODIs, stretching back to the start of last year’s 50-over World Cup.
