Scottish Daily Mail

Pitches will play into the hands of England

World Cup and Ashes-winning England coach’s guide to the T20 showpiece

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PLAYING IT SMART

EngLanD are one of the favourites to win this World Cup, and they still have the bulk of the team with the experience of winning the 50over tournament in 2019. That can only be a positive factor.

They’re used to those pressure situations — and, importantl­y, are used to winning on the type of pitches we will see in the UaE because England won that World Cup largely on slow surfaces they hadn’t really encountere­d over the previous four years.

The team i coached had to adapt to an older, slower-style game that didn’t suit the power we had seen from them and they will have to do it again now because, having been at the iPL over the last few weeks, i know these pitches will be challengin­g for batters.

They will be slow and can be a bit up and down, so it won’t be easy for batters to get their timing right. i’m not saying it’s impossible to play that expansive game England still favour, but we will see teams trying to make the absolute most of the first six overs when the ball is new and coming on to the bat a little better.

Then they will accumulate through the middle in the old style so they have wickets at the end to go hard.

if England try to play the power game, they could fall into the trap of putting too much bottom hand into the shot and hitting it into the leg-side. But the players should be smart and experience­d enough to play fairly straight, with strong cricket shots that have good shape while letting the ball come on to the bat.

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

THERE were times during the five years i was with England that Eoin Morgan was light on runs, but it never seemed to worry him. He just kept playing the way he was preaching to the rest of the team and that earned him a lot of respect.

it sent a message to the rest of the team that he was committed to playing that way and consequent­ly so were the others.

i don’t see it being a problem for England in this tournament. He’s been batting a little lower in the order where it can be hit and miss in T20 cricket, but Morgan’s value as a captain remains extremely high and he is incredibly well thought of by his team, both tactically and as a leader of men.

He’s right up there with the best captains i’ve worked with. My view as a coach has always been that the captain is the boss. He’s the one in the middle who has to make all the ingame decisions and most of the time Eoin took the right option.

That goes a long way to the team having confidence in their captain and going on to win the game.

an example of Morgan’s enduring leadership ability came in the iPL. Kolkata were in danger of missing the latter stages when we resumed the tournament in the UaE, but they went on a run under Eoin to reach the final and played in that same fearless fashion.

i heard Eoin saying the other day that he wouldn’t hesitate to drop himself if necessary during the tournament and that’s a measure of the man. While i don’t expect it to happen, there are not many captains who would think that way. That’s one of the reasons people respect him so much. He’s never afraid to think outside the box.

A FOOT IN TWO CAMPS

YOU can’t go past india and England as the two favourites. india are exceptiona­lly strong and benefit from their whole squad playing in the iPL.

They cover every base and their biggest problem will be who to leave out, certainly in the batting.

australia have been struggling in T20 cricket, partly because they haven’t had their best side, but they always find a way in big tournament­s and i could see them in the final four.

afghanista­n are an interestin­g one. They have a few really good spinners and are playing a couple of games in Sharjah, which should benefit them because that has the slowest pitches of all three venues.

if they were in the other group i’d say they had a chance of reaching the semi-finals, but it will be tough to find a way past india and Pakistan. i still think afghanista­n will at least surprise people along the way.

When i was with England people would ask me, as an australian, who i wanted to win the ashes. it was England when i worked with them, but now i guess i have a foot in both camps.

i’m a cricket lover first and foremost and now that i’m not involved with an internatio­nal team, i just want a good contest. But i would love an England v australia final and would be delighted for whoever wins!

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