We’ll have to make some stars unhappy
Tough choices for Morgan as World Cup looms
IT IS a measure of how far England’s one- day team has come that Eoin Morgan can chuckle grimly at the thought of the last trip to Sri Lanka. The year was 2014, when not all their ideas about white- ball cricket seemed relevant to the 21st century. Alastair Cook was captain, Peter Moores coach and Morgan a breath of fresh air in a batting line-up encouraged to regard totals of 280 as t he promised l and. England lost 5-2 — and everything unravelled.
Cook was sacked, not long after being endorsed by ECB managing director Paul Downton, and only weeks ahead of the World Cup. When England flopped at the tournament — horribly and predictably — Moores didn’t last long either.
The reins passed temporarily to Paul Farbrace, and Morgan set about instilling a no-fear approach in a team of his choice. England began by scoring 408 against New Zealand at Edgbaston. The penny had dropped.
As England prepare for their Sri Lankan rematch, they sit on top of the world rankings, perhaps pinching themselves at the scale of the transformation.
‘It’s just a completely different team,’ says Morgan. ‘ We’re not chasing the pack any more in terms of our style and mentality. We’re probably at the forefront of that.’
That 2014 series feels like another world now, one in which England’s one-day side were grandads at the disco, humoured by opponents partly because they made them l ook good. Kumar Sangakkara scored 454 runs across the seven matches, while England’s suspicion of hell-for-leather strokeplay meant Alex Hales didn’t play until the third game, when they were 2-0 down. ‘We couldn’t get Sangakkara out,’ says Morgan. ‘Those sevenmatch ODI tours can be tough. I’ve been involved in a couple, against India and Australia, where we’ve lost 6-1. When you’re on the other side of that, it’s not fun.’
A repeat this time would be a big surprise. Sri Lanka have plummeted to eighth in the rankings, below Bangladesh, who dismissed them for 124 at the Asia Cup. Afghanistan thrashed them too.
To add intrigue to insult, the Sri Lankans — citing fitness concerns — have dropped Angelo Mathews, one of their few world-class performers, only days after he was sacked as white-ball captain.
In the meantime, England have passed 300 on 32 occasions since the 2015 World Cup alone, having done so 34 times in the preceding 45 years. They have won eight bilateral series in a row, excluding a freak one-off defeat by Scotland, and have broken the world-record total twice.
Even so, as Morgan’s team prepares to add another string to their bow ahead of next summer’s World Cup, he is aware that Sri Lanka have never been pushovers at home. In all, England — who begin with a pair of warm-up matches in Colombo on Friday and Saturday — have beaten them in only six of 21 matches there. Victory this time will cement the notion that they are now a team for all conditions.
‘It’s a massive challenge to turn round our record there,’ says Morgan. ‘But one change from the last time is that they’re missing Dilshan, Jayawardene and Sangakkara. It was difficult to get those guys out in their own conditions.’
The fate of Hales four years ago — he eventually played only three times, scoring 27, nought and seven — is a reminder that Morgan faces some tough choices now. Because, assuming everyone is fit, Hales could miss out again. Winning teams have to take difficult decisions too. ‘The honest answer is you can’t keep everyone happy,’ says Morgan. ‘When I first took over as captain, I talked to everyone about the importance of building a squad. It’s not just about the 11 players on
the park. We’ve had to make some very difficult decisions, especially about the batting order. We’ve not always got it right. It will continue to evolve because we’re building a squad for the World Cup. If a guy is in form going into it, he plays.’ One of Morgan’s tasks is to use each series as a means of keeping eyes on the main prize — but without letting his players get ahead of themselves. And his belief that the team keep improving was, he says, confirmed by the way they tackled India’s l eft- arm wrist- spinner Kuldeep Yadav this summer.
Kuldeep ran through England’s batting in the first Twenty20 match and the first ODI. But England neutralised him so well that they ended up winning the 50-over series — India’s first one-day defeat under Virat Kohli.
‘ We’ve spoken about how it’s important to play in games that expose weaknesses under pressure,’ says Morgan. ‘The biggest test came in the first game against India, when we got done all ends up by a left-arm chinaman bowler we hadn’t played before. But the way we improved against him was a good sign of where we are at.’
What of his own batting? Because if Morgan’s inventiveness stood out in 2014, he now, aged 32, feels like an elder statesman in a team full of freewheeling whippersnappers.
This year, his ODI average of 33 trails behind Joe Root ( 61), Jos Buttler (58), Jonny Bairstow (51), Jason Roy (45), Hales (40) and Ben Stokes (39). Even his strike-rate of 90 lags a little. ‘ My white- ball batting is not as good as last year, but it’s still evolving,’ he says. ‘It’s not standing still.’
How would he look to improve? ‘ My first 30 balls,’ he says. ‘ It’s always been the case. Getting settled has been a problem. It can take me a while to adjust to the pitch. If I could change that and start better, especially if the ball’s moving around. It’s about not forgetting you’re there to score runs too.’
Another refresher course in Sri Lanka will tee England up for a s ummer which could change perceptions for good.