Field marshal Morgan calls for a shake-up
England begin their build- up in earnest today for the World Twenty20 with Eoin Morgan vowing to put right the woeful fielding lapses that have left them playing catch-up before the tournament in India.
dropped catches cost England dear in their one-day series defeat against South africa, particularly in Johannesburg, and left coach Trevor Bayliss fuming that some of his players did not want the ball to come to them in the field.
It was a damning indictment from a coach who considers top- quality fielding a minimum requirement and it was one accepted by captain Morgan before the first of two Twenty20 matches that will set the tone for the tournament to come.
‘I know he was talking about a couple of instances when we were just out of the game and maybe switched off a bit early,’ said Morgan. ‘It’s an attitude thing and it’s easy enough to mend once you know the players are aware of it.
‘We’re very keen on being one of the best fielding sides because out there you can save 10 runs or take an outstanding catch. In recent series it’s been a strength but here so far it hasn’t and we need to fix that as soon as possible.’
South africa are among England’s group opponents in India next month and will provide a good gauge of where Morgan’s young side are at when they meet today at newlands and at the Wanderers on Sunday in front of capacity crowds.
Morgan played down his side’s hopes of winning a second World Twenty20 because of inexperience but England have made a conscious decision to go with a young side and want them to grow together over the next three global events.
‘We’ve got to be realistic,’ said Morgan. ‘We do have a number of match-winners but we are light on experience. The beauty of a T20 World Cup is that it is unpredictable. We’ve seen top sides get knocked out and others who have scraped through the group stages go on to win it.’
There is no question England’s batting looks stronger than the bowling, with Joe Root and Ben Stokes returning today to replace James Vince and Sam Billings, while Moeen ali provides more depth coming in for Chris Woakes.
It is a line-up full of exciting modern power and innovation and one that should benefit from the captain’s return to form in the warm-up victory against South africa a in Paarl, Morgan hitting five sixes in just 13 balls.
‘It was great,’ said the Irishman. ‘But I haven’t felt out of form, I’ve just felt short of runs and it was nice to come in and play with the freedom that I like to play with. It’s a bigger worry when you’re out of sorts but that wasn’t the case. It’s more of a mental state.’
The bowling is more of a concern even if, in Reece Topley, England appear to have a young left-arm bowler full of modern limited-overs skills and one who can finally fill the void left by Ryan Sidebottom.
England just appear a bowler light, particularly as Chris Jordan has had a disappointing tour so far, and will be very much hoping that Steven Finn is fit and hits the ground running when he joins up with the squad next month.
For now it is difficult to avoid the belief that England should have included Stuart Broad in their ranks to provide the experience that Morgan accepts his side lack, even though he believes his armoury is well stocked.
‘This attack can win games for us,’ said Morgan. ‘The spin department is covered and the two left-armers have come in and posed a threat up front which has added a huge dynamic to our game. a big strength is that we do bat deep but we certainly have other strings to our bow.’
at least, as Morgan suggested, England have a clear idea of their first- choice team for the World Twenty20 opener against West Indies in Mumbai on March 16 and it is the one that will face South africa today, with the probable exception of Finn replacing Jordan.
The final two games of this long tour will provide a fair indication as to whether it is a team that can emulate England’s World Twenty20 winners of 2010.