WALSH BLAMES TOSS DECISION FOR WI DEFEAT Morgan & Co. gear up to lock horns with Ireland JASON WANTS SMALL TEAMS TO PLAY MORE
Manchester, July 29: West Indies played into England’s hands by asking the hosts to bat first in the lost second and Third Tests, reckons legendary pacer Courtney Walsh.
The legendary Caribbean paceman feels the West Indies played it safe after winning the opening match and it cost them the series. The West Indies team won the opening Test by four wickets in Southampton but lost the second and third match at the Old Trafford to allow England to regain the Wisden trophy.
“They were probably thinking ‘we’re 1-0 up, let’s play safe and try not to lose the next two’ and I think that played into England’s hands, especially in the last one with the history of the ground,” Walsh told Sky Sports.
Walsh credited England for bouncing back after the defeat in the seriesopener. — PTI
London, July 29: Eoin Morgan says England have an “unbelievably talented” pool of white-ball players as the world champions prepare to launch their campaign to reach the next World Cup against Ireland on Thursday.
The three-match one-day international series at Southampton’s Ageas Bowl launches the new World Cup Super League, which will determine qualification for the 2023 50-over World Cup in India.
England’s red and whiteball fixtures are overlapping in a season cut short by the Coronavirus outbreak and they are maintaining two separate squads, meaning a clutch of World Cup winners including Joe Root and Ben Stokes will not feature against Ireland.
But Morgan, England’s limited-overs captain, said he had more talented players at his disposal but said England needed more strength in depth in the middle order and lower order.
Dublin-born Morgan said England’s first World Cup triumph had increased the level of expectation placed on his team but had also boosted confidence.
“Winning last year has given our guys a huge amount of confidence in the process, strategy and planning we went through over a four-year period.
“Seeing the finished product last year was an eye-opener for everybody that hadn’t won a World Cup but also it creates a level of expectation everywhere we go and that’s one that sits well with some of our guys but for a lot of our guys they haven’t experienced that so it’s important to recognise what’s expected of us moving forward because we want to win more trophies,” Morgan said.
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AFP
Manchester, July 29: West Indies captain Jason Holder feels “relevant” authorities need to ensure that smaller teams get to play regular international cricket as in a world scarred by Covid19, only India, Australia and England have the resources to stage games in bio-secure bubbles.
The series between West Indies and England was played in a bio-secure environment increasing organisational costs significantly and Holder said teams like the West Indies are likely to struggle to create a similar environment.
“If something doesn’t happen soon we’ll see less international cricket being played by smaller countries because we simply can’t afford it. We’ve gone from having four, five-match series, down to two and three,” Holder said after the conclusion of the third Test here.
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PTI