Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
EOIN’S WORLD CUP BLAST
ENGLAND skipper Eoin Morgan has insisted there is no sense of entitlement when it comes to his team’s hopeful march towards World Cup glory.
Nine successive series wins on the bounce and a World No.1 ranking could lead some to believe that the World Cup on home soil is a done deal, but Morgan is having none of it. They came unstuck on Friday against a West Indies side that has not won an ODI series for nearly five years – a timely reminder that they can still be beaten if they fail to produce their best cricket.
And even though Morgan’s men were in pole position to win the game when Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler were cruising in the run-chase, they were humbled by a strong Windies display. “At no stage did we expect to win,” said Morgan.
There’s no sense of entitlement in this side. You have to hurt sides if you get on top – and we didn’t.
“We were in control and were probably in a better position than in the first match on Wednesday, which we did win.
“But we left a little too much for the end. Against a side who had momentum, it was tough to get it back.
“We turn up trying our hardest to win every game but it doesn’t happen every time. We were beaten by a better side.
“Learning from that isn’t a bad thing and the guts of it we’ll see in the next game whether we do learn from it or not – that’s where the improvement should be.”