I’D DROP MYSELF
Morgan won’t dodge tough call if he’s not worth his place
It is hardly a repeat of England’s last one-day tour of sri Lanka. that ended in heavy defeat and the sacking of Alastair Cook as captain on the eve of a World Cup in which their prehistoric white- ball game would unravel.
But Cook’s successor Eoin Morgan, the man who has done so much to lead England’s white-ball revolution since then, goes into today’s first one- day international in Dambulla accepting his own place may come under scrutiny.
Morgan, with coaches trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace, has been the architect of a spectacular transformation that now sees England top the 50-over rankings and favourites for the World Cup they host next summer.
Yet such is the scale of the improvement that Morgan finds himself all but overtaken by the plethora of big-hitting talents expected to deliver a first World Cup. Alex Hales, for one, misses out today because England cannot squeeze him into their line-up and Morgan knows he cannot command a place for his captaincy alone.
‘it would be a brave call, but we have come a long way with this team and we need to put ourselves in the best position to be contenders,’ said Morgan as England kept their fingers firmly crossed for dry weather today.
‘if that means i am not good enough to be in the team as captain or as a player i will be the first one to say it. i’m an honest guy and i’m more than capable of making a tough decision.
‘ i’ve dropped myself in the past to create opportunities for guys. When you drop yourself as captain it sets the tone.’
in truth, it should not come to that. Morgan may not have scored a one- day hundred in 27 innings but he made halfcenturies in the last two games against india and, at 32, is far from finished at the highest level.
And a leading figure in the England set-up told Sportsmail that Morgan could score ducks in every innings between now and the World Cup next May and would still be worth his place, such is his influence as captain.
But Morgan knows that even a run of eight successive one-day series victories, excluding a freak one-off defeat by scotland, would mean little if England do not win that elusive World Cup.
‘We are trying to build a squad of 16 or 17 to win a World Cup, that’s the objective,’ Morgan told sky sports. ‘it’s not an individual thing to try to get runs and wickets. it’s a team collective everyone must be prepared to buy into.’
the reality is that England probably know 10 of their players for the World Cup, with Liam Plunkett perhaps leaving one place unfilled by missing the first two ODis because of his wedding. that means Olly stone can stake a claim for that place if handed his debut today.
Last night the indications were that stone would play in Dambulla in an attempt by England to finally find a bowler with the extra pace and X-factor that have been lacking for them, particularly in overseas conditions.
there might also be a slot for a third spinner, Liam Dawson, ahead of Mark Wood as England try to play the home side at their own slow-bowling game, even though Dawson is unlikely to be needed next summer.
sri Lanka have sunk to No 8 in the rankings, have dropped their best batsman Angelo Mathews for fitness reasons and will begin this tour under a corruption cloud amid an investigation by the iCC.
Even though sri Lankan conditions provide a challenge for visiting teams, it would be a surprise if new captain Dinesh Chandimal’s side win more than one or two of the five games, let alone achieve a resounding series win as they did in 2014.
‘When you look at how England struggled during the last World Cup, the same thing is happening to us at the moment,’ said Chandimal. ‘if we could beat the No 1 one-day side, that could be the turning point.’
the reality is that the elements — and only cricket could arrange a tour to sri Lanka in the monsoon season — could provide a bigger danger than the home side to England’s chances of starting this tour with a victory.
ENGLAND (probable): Roy, Bairstow, Root, Morgan (capt), Stokes, Buttler (wkt), Moeen, Dawson, Woakes, Rashid, Stone.
l ALEX HALEs has agreed to play in the Bangladesh Premier League, two years after declining to tour the country with England on security grounds. Hales has signed a two-year deal to play for Rangpur Riders in BPL’s sixth edition starting in January.