Cricket-West Indies tour a chance for untapped talent to shine, says Livingstone

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(Reuters) – England’s tour of the West Indies will be a platform for players to make a name for themselves, stand-in captain Liam Livingstone said ahead of three One-Day and five Twenty20 Internationals in the Caribbean.

England have named a youthful squad for the white-ball series with four uncapped players – Michael Pepper, Dan Mousley, Jafer Chohan and John Turner – in line to make their debuts.

“If somebody comes in and shows something we haven’t already got, they can leapfrog people very quickly. There’s a lot of untapped talent and we are going to see some of that,” Livingstone told reporters on Wednesday.

“Hopefully there will be someone within this group where people say: ‘Remember that series we had in the West Indies when so-and-so made a name for themselves?’

“There’s going to be a lot of debuts over the next few weeks. It’s about time we threw them in at the deep end and see what they’re all about.”

Livingstone, 31, will captain the ODI side in the absence of the injured Jos Buttler, who will return for the T20 matches.

“It’s my job as an experienced player to help these guys along and make them as comfortable as possible in this environment,” Livingstone said.

“I want the next few games to be a hell of a lot of fun, play some good cricket, win some games and then hand the reins back to Jos.”

The first ODI will take place at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua later on Thursday.