Cricket News By TODAYLIVESCORE.INFO - Not going to stand in the way of England winning a World Cup: Eoin Morgan. Morgan's highest T20 score for England in 2021 is just 28. nju
Morgan's highest T20 score for England in 2021 is just 28. nju
England captain Eoin Morgan says he would drop himself if he thought his team stood a better chance of winning the T20 WC without him. It follows a lean run of form this year including a run of six single figure scores in Morgan's last nine IPL innings for KKR. Morgan's highest T20I score for England in 2021 is just 28.
Morgan rightly pointed out that his role in the middle order often means having to blaze away as soon as he gets to the crease, with all the additional risk that comes with it. It is not an easy position to be consistent from. Given the importance of his leadership and tactical direction as captain, Morgan also adds far more to England's limited overs team than simply his batting.
Even so, the sooner this bad run can be put to bed, the better, particularly given the strength of England's batting depth. Otherwise, Morgan may face a tricky dilemma. “It's always something I've said – it's always an option,” he said when asked if he would leave himself out. “I'm not going to stand in the way of a team winning the World Cup. I've been short of runs but my captaincy has been pretty good as it goes.
“I've always managed to compartmentalise both and treat them as two different challenges. Not being a bowler and being a bit older and not contributing as much in the field, I've loved the role of captain. You get two bites at the cherry impacting the game.
“As regards my batting I wouldn't be standing here if I hadn't come out of every bad run of form that I'd ever had. The nature of T20 cricket and where I bat means I always have to take quite high-risk options and I've come to terms with that. It's just something you deal with, it's the nature of the job so I'm going to continue taking those risks if the team dictates they need them, if they don't I won't.”
Morgan confirmed he would play in England's second warm-up against New Zealand on Wednesday (October 20) after sitting out the defeat to India on Monday to rest following his exertions in the IPL. He also confirmed that the finger injury that Liam Livingstone suffered in the field against the Indians was no concern. “He's fine, absolutely fine, nothing wrong,” Morgan said.
Not much should be read into England's seven wicket defeat to India in their opening warm-up game. For a number of players it was their first match action for nearly a month and these games are important for getting up to speed technically and physically rather than results. Morgan also believes that with five group games to play, there is more time to ease into this tournament than there was in previous editions, reducing the premium on hitting the ground running.
“I think they're important for guys that haven't been playing a lot of cricket to get a couple of run outs before we start the tournament,” Morgan said of the warm-ups. “With the new format and the larger group as your first challenge throughout the tournament, I suppose you don't have to be coming into the tournament as you think you might do in previous years, when one game might cost you qualifying.
“With more games that you play it allows you to establish some form as a side and almost gather momentum into the tournament. Whereas in previous years, the tournaments that I've played, 2009 getting out of the group stage was extremely difficult, 2010 when we won unbelievably difficult, likewise 2016 when we got to the final, we scraped through the group stages. The two in between we were bundled out in the group stages. So I think there's a little bit more leeway with this new format.”
For that reason, Morgan doesn't believe the World Cup is as open as many are predicting. One defeat may have knocked teams out of previous tournaments but with a larger group stage, sides have time to recover which should mean the better teams make it to the knock-out stages. “I don't think it is [open],” Morgan said. “I think the format actually eradicates how open things are.
“The sides that play the best cricket and progress from the group stages, very similar to 2019 [50-over World Cup] where the group stage games were nine [matches] and everybody played everybody, it sort of eliminates a banana skin potential that knocks you out of the tournament.”
Morgan said England would take confidence from their victory in the 2019 World Cup as they attempt to become the first team to hold both the 50 and 20-over World Cup trophies at the same time. “We take a lot of confidence from that,” he said. “Having come through the challenges that we did I suppose after 2015, the learnings that we took into the T20 WC in 2016, the Champions Trophy in 2017, and then culminating in the World Cup in 2019, builds a lot of confidence and reinforces the cricket that we're playing is the right direction we want to be going as a white-ball group.
“We're always trying to push the limits, we're always trying to get better as a side, and even since 2019 our cricket has been as consistent as ever in the T20 format which is extremely difficult to do when there's been chopping and changing the whole time. And with the opportunity of not only this World Cup but next year's as well, there's a real chance of being contenders.
“It'll be unbelievably special if we manage to do it. The group of players that we've had together for the last five or six years, alongside some new, really talented and young guys coming through that have really made a name for themselves, makes the composition of the squad extremely strong.
“Obviously playing away from home creates challenges within that and for the first time since 2016 we're going into a world tournament where we haven't been favourites. So again, there are some challenges that come with that, but challenges that we've overcome in bilateral series on previous occasions, and challenges that we're really looking forward to.”
