By Charles Randall

11 May 2015


Wild claims that Liam Livingstone's 350 off only 138 balls in the first round of the Royal London Club Championship was a 'world record' in limited overs cricket were quickly shown to be premature, but his innings for Nantwich CC was certainly astonishing.

Livingstone, 21, from Barrow, already making his name on Lancashire's books, came in at No 3 and smashed a callow Caldy attack for 27 sixes at Whitehouse Lane, with about 16 of these disappearing into a nearby cemetery. Search parties were kept busy attempting to retrieve as many balls as possible, but many were lost. Nantwich, from the Cheshire Premier League, piled up 579-7 off 45 overs to set up a 500-run victory – a one-sided game to end all one-sided games.

Livingstone said that after reaching his century off 47 balls he attempted to hit every delivery for six, and this policy succeeded very well against his Wirral opponents. “It is all a bit surreal,” he said afterwards. “It hasn't sunk in yet, but it is a very proud day and luckily my mum and dad were there to see it.” He was caught near the long-off boundary with eight overs still in hand. He would have had time to surpass the 403 scored by the Pakistani overseas batsman Shahzad Malik for the Hertfordshire club Langleybury against Middlesex Tamils in the 2005 Bertie Joel Cup, though the team score on that day of 563-2 fell short of Nantwich's.

A first class debut this season could be on the cards, as Livingstone hit a rapid Lancashire second team double-hundred against Yorkshire at Leeds in 2014 and excelled against them the previous season. 

Caldy won the National Village competition twice, in 1996 and 97, their first opponents being Langleybury. While this season's Nantwich defeat earned them a different type of notoriety, they earned praise for their attitude under stress.
Whether mismatches like this are healthy for club cricket is a matter for debate, but it allowed a promising young player to make his name.
 
In contrast to the Livingstone match, there were two ties in Club Championship. Middlesex League clubs Uxbridge and Hampstead fought out a tie at 200 each, with Hampstead, one tier higher, progressing by virtue of losing nine wickets while Uxbridge were all out.