MORGAN ON TEST DUTY
Eoin will stress T20 hopefuls
EOIN MORGAN will use the three-match T20 series against Pakistan to stress test the character of some World Cup hopefuls.
With limited opportunities to find out about England’s squad before this year’s World T20, the three matches, starting at Trent Bridge tonight, carry significant value.
And Morgan intends to load the pressure on his fringe players and see if they can make a late dart for the World Cup squad.
The England white-ball captain said: “We need to look a bit more into strength in depth, so you’ll see us giving opportunities and going through various options in the next three games for possible injury replacements for certain players.
“There will be more rotation, and the priority throughout the series will be to give opportunities.
“We are treating it as though it is our last chance to look at guys.
“Everybody will have a chance and it’s an opportunity to look at them under pressure.”
England have five competitive
T20s before the
World Cup – with two more against the same opposition in Karachi in October
– so the time to shine is now.
Saqib
Mahmood,
Lewis
Gregory and
Matt Parkinson have been given their chance following their ODI success in the B-squad under Ben Stokes. Liam Livingstone, Tom Banton, Jake Ball and Dawid Malan will have an opportunity to remind Morgan of their worth.
The skipper was impressed with Mahmood and Gregory in the hastily-arranged ODI squad which beat Pakistan 3-0.
He said: “They’ve done themselves the world of good.The one thing you look at when guys come in a side is an improvement from the last time. “The two guys mentioned and James Vince were outstanding.” Morgan said Stokes was always going to miss the T20s and insisted his absence was precautionary rather than an indication the finger he fractured in the Indian Premier League was a problem. Morgan said: “He hasn’t played a lot of cricket and he’s had some R&R at home and feels fresh. “The finger hasn’t come along as he and the medical team would have liked. So it is important it is as good as it can be for the Tests against India.”
ENGLAND (probable): Roy, Bairstow, Banton, Morgan (capt), Buttler (wkt), Livingstone, Gregory, Jordan, Willey, Rashid, Mahmood.
PAKISTAN (probable): Rizwan (wkt), Sharjeel, Azam (capt), Hafeez, Maqsood, Imad, H Ali, Shaheen, Qadir, Rauf, Zaman.