ALL ROADS NOW LEAD TO THE WORLD CUP... BUT MAYBE NOT FOR ME
Captain Morgan insists England are starting their defence of the crown right now but can’t guarantee he will lead them as form and injuries bite
EOIN MORGAN fired the starting gun on England’s World Cup title defence but offered no guarantees he will be around to lead them into it next year.
The white-ball captain has become used to questions about his future given his occasional struggles with the bat and more general issues with his body.
Yet speaking ahead of the first of three ODIs against Holland – the first in the format for 11 months – he maintained he feels fit right now.
Morgan intends to play in all three games here but still has to take it on a “match-to-match basis”.
Asked about the World Cup title defence in India in October 2023, Morgan, who turns 36 in September, urged realism.
“That is a long way away. I need to get to the T20 one first,” he said of the finals in Australia in just under four months. “I’m going to take it as it comes, managing my contribution, my body.
“I will ask if I am still contributing on and off the field within the team and I will be as honest as I am with everybody since I started the captaincy.
“I still feel like I can contribute to a World Cup win, but I will genuinely have the best interests of the team at heart and it has always been that way.”
If England feel in transition and missing some big guns in Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes for the first match of coach Matthew Mott’s era, pity their hosts.
Holland are effectively taking on the World Cup champions with one hand tied behind their back.
Their semi-professional status means five of their best players – Roelof van der Merwe, Timm van der Gugten, Colin Ackermann, Paul van Meekeren and Fred Klaassen – are on duty with their English counties.
It will make for a potentially difficult few days for them here in Amstelveen, a south-west suburb of Amsterdam.
Holland have bloodied England’s noses twice before in their two T20 clashes but have yet to land a blow in their three previous ODIs.
Skipper Pieter Seelaar insisted it was about trying to prolong shock tactics – which will be no easy task.
“A third win over England would be fantastic and something we’re looking for. But we’ve just got to try to be competitive over the three games,” he said.
The likelihood of containing England’s power hitters at a ground where Sri Lanka plundered 443-9 in 2006 seem unlikely.
“The challenge for the time we’re here is for us as a new group to try and produce something close to where we would like to be,” added Morgan.
Three-nil looks the minimum requirement if they are serious about a World Cup defence.