England beat Pakistan by six wickets as they chase down 161 with ease

Liam Livingstone provided a reminder of why he is rated as perhaps the most powerful of all England’s big white-ball hitters in their final World Cup warm-up stroll against Pakistan.

Livingstone hit two sixes, the first a monster blow off Shadab Khan into the top tier of an empty Gabba, in his 28 off 16 balls on his return from the freak ankle injury that has kept him out since August.

But whether it will be enough to fast-track him straight into the side for the World Cup opener against Afghanistan in Perth on Saturday remains to be seen.

Liam Livingstone provided a masterclass in power hitting as England overcame Pakistan

Livingstone was dropped twice by a shoddy Pakistan and, at one stage, appeared to slip on the left ankle he damaged when he tripped over on a pavement.

England captain Jos Buttler is believed to want to go into the tournament with an extra bowler, probably Sam Curran, at seven which means Livingstone could be competing with the new star of English cricket in Harry Brook for one place in the middle order.

And Brook did his chances no harm when he hit three big sixes of his own in his most productive knock yet in Australia, an impressive unbeaten 50 off 24 balls.

The powerful middle order batsman gave Matthew Mott a further selection headache ahead of opener against Afghanistan

It was enough to give England another comfortable victory to follow their 4-3 win in Pakistan and 2-0 triumph over Australia in the build-up to this tournament but this was nothing like the competitive work-outs they have had in those two series.

While the matches in Pakistan and against Australia were official internationals this was a glorified practice game England were forced to play by ICC when they would rather have headed straight back to Perth after completing their Australian series in Canberra.

The ICC compounded their questionable decision by insisting both this game and an earlier match between Australia and India here were played behind closed doors even though they were televised, a move that annoyed local supporters.

Harry Brook, a relative T20I newbie, impressed again for England in their final warm up match

But at least England will head west on Tuesday after another job well done, Ben Stokes also spending valuable time in the middle, hitting three sixes in his 36, and Curran completing the job alongside Brook with 29 off 14 balls as England went past Pakistan’s 160 for eight in what became a 19 over match because of rain with 27 balls to spare.

Pakistan’s innings was simply an exercise for England in providing practice for their bowlers, no fewer than eight turning their arms over while Pakistan looked equally uninvested in another match against a team they played against seven times last month.

At least England will be happy that Livingstone took a wicket with just his third ball – Pakistan’s top scorer Shan Masood for 39 – and should have had a second two balls later when Shadab Khan was dropped by Chris Jordan. The returning Livingstone also conceded just eight runs from his two overs of spin.

England will gain encouragement from Ben Stokes running into bowl a two overs despite going for 25 runs

Jordan was the only England bowler to deliver four overs but may be running out of time to force his way into the side for Saturday’s World Cup opener against Afghanistan.

As too might David Willey even though he took two wickets in successive balls in two expensive overs that went for 22 runs.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment in England’s bowling performance was the fact they bowled 10 wides between them in the 19 overs, perhaps a reflection of their reluctance to be in Brisbane for such a low-key encounter.

Phil Salt wasted his chance to have a hit in England’s reply and looks certain to miss out on Saturday while Alex Hales, who will open instead of him alongside Jos Buttler, was another to give his wicket away cheaply.

Never mind. England took as much as they possibly could have done out of this pretty meaningless exercise. Now onto the serious stuff.

David Willey is running out of time to force his way into the England side for this week’s opener