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As one of the lucky players of the squad not yet affected by illness, Liam Livingstone is preparing to receive his maiden Test cap as England take on Pakistan in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
On Tuesday, captain Ben Stokes announced Liam Livingstone will be making his Test debut against Pakistan in Rawalpindi. When asked whether he was willing to wait a little longer, Livingstone maintained his composure just 24 hours later, when the start of the first Test was in doubt due to a virus spreading through the England team and posing a threat to leave them short of 11 healthy cricketers. England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced on Thursday that the commencement of the first Test between England and Pakistan will not be delayed and both boards have agreed to start the match as per schedule on Thursday after the outbreak of viral infection in the Three Lions' camp. England indicated that they're in a position to field a playing XI in Rawalpindi against Pakistan in the opening Test. "I've just been chilling upstairs, had breakfast with Sax (Mark Saxby) who's just come back from being ill, so I haven't seen anyone. I don't know what's going on. Thankfully it's way above me (the decision on whether the Test will begin as planned). I'll stay way out of it. I'll prepare as if I'm going to make my debut tomorrow and that's that, if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen but I won't be wasting any energy thinking about what's going to happen tomorrow," Livingstone was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. "I've spent most of the morning on the golf simulator. It was quite weird. Everybody was going down one by one. Thankfully I've been clear up to now," he added. Rawalpindi will host the first Test (1-5 December) before the action moves to Karachi (9-13 December) and Multan (17-21 December) for the subsequent games. England had announced their final XI for the clash on Wednesday, but may alter their side if players are still struggling to shake the illness. England squad: Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Will Jacks, Keaton Jennings, Jack Leach, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood and Rehan Ahmed. (ANI)
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