MORGAN WILL KEEP US IN THE HUNT
JOE ROOT is certain captain Eoin Morgan will lead from the front when England begin their World Cup campaign against Australia on Saturday.
Morgan, below, will head into that clash struggling to score a run after he again made a duck in a four- wicket warm- up defeat by Pakistan in Sydney yesterday.
The left- hander fell in bizarre fashion, scooping a Yasir Shah full toss to slip, and now has a miserable return of 0, 2, 0 and 0 from his past four innings, including consecutive fi rst- ball ducks against Australia.
His century against Australia in the Tri- Series opener will ensure Morgan is not too panicked and Root is confi dent that his captain will raise his game in the heat of battle.
“Morgs is one of the guys that you turn to when the pressure is on,” said Root. “He has done it so many times for us and I’m sure throughout this competition he’s going to score a lot of runs.
“Everyone in the dressing room is absolutely convinced that’s going to be the case. He scored a hundred not long ago. He’s a fi ne player and a fi ne leader.”
Root admits that, after all the preparation of the past month, the England players are champing at the bit to kick off the World Cup against their oldest rivals.
“We’re ready now. We’re fed up of waiting around,” he said. “We want to get cracking. We want Saturday to come and we want to surprise people. We want to put in that performance that gets us a win and take on that 90,000 crowd at the MCG.” England may have some headaches to cure before then but will be content to have been fully tested by Pakistan after they hardly broke a sweat in beating the West Indies in their fi rst warm- up game. Root top- scored with 85 from 89 balls, while Gary Ballance, in his fi rst game on tour after breaking a fi nger in a training session, ground out an 81- ball 57 in a total of 250- 8. It was a timely reminder of Ballance’s qualities after the out- of- sorts Ravi Bopara scratched away for 11 from 25 balls.
Root, a former housemate of Ballance, is certain he could step up if required in Melbourne. “He wouldn’t be in the squad if he wasn’t able to do a job,” he said. “It’s never easy to come back into cricket and perform from ball one. To put in that performance is really pleasing and it’s good to have a full squad playing well.”
Root believes he is ready to go on Saturday, adding: “I know I’ve not put in many performances, a couple of fi fties, but my game feels in a really good place.”
England can also feel enthused by Stuart Broad’s 2- 51 after he took the new ball for the fi rst time this winter and claimed Nasri Jamshed immediately. Broad has slowly built back to full steam since arriving in Australia following his surgery in the winter and helped reduce Pakistan to 78- 4 in their replay.
From there, Misbah- ul- Haq and Umar Akmal stole the game in a match- winning stand of 133. The unfl appable Misbah guided his side home with seven balls to spare and fi nished unbeaten on 91.