Morgan still happy to take highrisk options
England captain Eoin Morgan takes a broad view of his lean run of form, insisting the necessity to play high-risk strokes in the middle order from the get-go can at least partially explain his run of low scores.
An innings of 13 not out was Morgan’s highest in nine offerings upon the resumption last month of the Indian Premier League in the United Arab Emirates, which alongside Oman is hosting the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup.
He has not registered a half century for England in the format since August last year and while the 50- over World Cup winning captain’ s position is in no danger at all, he repeated his stance he would drop himself if required.
After sitting out England’s warm-up against India, Morganis set to return against New Zealand today as they finalise preparations for their tournament opener against the West Indies in Dubai this weekend.
Morgan, who confirmed Liam Livingstone was ‘fine and fully fit’ after injuring a finger in defeat to India, said: “I wouldn’t be standing here if I hadn’t come out of every bad run of form that I’d ever had.
“The nature of T20 cricket and where I bat means I always have to take quite high-risk options. I’m going to continue taking those risks if the team dictates they need them, if they don’t, I won’t.
“I’m not going to stand in the way of a team winning the World Cup. I’ve been short of runs but my captaincy has been pretty good. I’ve always managed to compartmentalise both and treat them as two different challenges. Not being a bowler and being a bit older and not contributing as much in the field, I’ ve loved the role of captain. You get two bite sat the cherry impacting the game.”