Not Sam Curran or Ollie Pope, former English quick names surprise 20-year-old as 'next big thing in England cricket'

The youngster has also been roped by Mumbai Indians owned MI Emirates for the ILT20

The England men's cricket team is filled with stars in both the departments of the game. The batting is led by Jos Buttler, who finished as the leading run-scorer in the previous edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Apart from him the team also features other premier batters in the form of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow. Apart from the trio, England's new Test captain Ben Stokes too is a big name who plays for the Three Lions.

Will Smeed became the first player to score a century at The Hundred (Twitter/SomersetCCC)

All the names mentioned above already established themselves in the cricketing circuit. And focusing on the upcoming generation, former England quick Ryan Sidebottom backed 20-year-old star to emerge as the “next big thing” from the English camp. “Obviously Ben Stokes is a huge thing around the world, he is a superstar. But I would say the next big thing would have to be Liam Livingstone or Will Smeed,” the ex-cricketer said in a video shared on CricTracker's YouTube channel.

Liam Livingstone has shown great potential in the shorter format of the game and it was quite evident during the IPL. The all-rounder rocked the show in the lucrative T20 league, which saw him amass 437 runs from 14 encounters at a staggering strike of 182.08.

Meanwhile, Smeed recently became the first batter to notch a ton in The Hundred. He smashed Livingstone's previous record of 92, and scored an unbeaten 101 off 50 deliveries, which featured eight boundaries and six maximums.

The youngster has also been roped by Mumbai Indians owned MI Emirates for the ILT20, which will be played in UAE next year.