Eoin Morgan: English summer has shown world "exactly how to get cricket back on"

Morgan added as well that he had found fielding the most difficult discipline to master in a crowd-less environment, suggesting that it was difficult to maintain a high intensity for a long period of time

The men’s international summer has shown the world “exactly how to get cricket back on”, believes Eoin Morgan, following his side’s final game of a season shaped by the coronavirus pandemic.

England lost the last match of their condensed summer, with Australia coming out on top in a thriller at Emirates Old Trafford to win by three wickets and consign England to their first home ODI series defeat for five years.

In the wider context of the series, however, it means that England were able to fulfil their entire summer schedule, albeit with the dates adjusted accordingly.

“I think certainly we have pioneered – or mapped out – exactly how to get cricket back on,” Morgan said.

“Given that we’ve had no positive cases within the bubble at the moment, I think it’s a very good example and one that every team around the world will look at. Whether they can model it exactly like that might be a bit more challenging, but I think the ECB have done an outstanding job.”

Looking ahead to the winter – no plans have been officially confirmed yet, but it appears increasingly possible that England will travel to South Africa for a white-ball series, England’s captain suggested that there were ways in which England could adapt their bio-secure experience.

Some have been in the bubble for 16 weeks, away from their families and conditioned each day to the same restricted routine.

Several players on each side have spoken during the summer of the mental strain that comes with opening the curtains each morning to a view of the pitch from their hotel rooms.

^{Morgan saw his England side lose their first home ODI series for five years} 

“I think the biggest challenge for us is spending an extended period of time away from your family,” Morgan explained. “I think that challenge is already greater at the moment because we accept that we’re going to be away for long periods of time in the winter – that’s just the nature of being an international cricketer in the winter.

“When we’re doing it at home with none of your family around, it poses a more difficult, challenging situation. I think with the IPL, having family over there will help a massive amount – also, not staying at the venue might help as well. I think moving into the winter, we might need to look at that, traveling to other countries.”

He added as well that he had found fielding the most difficult discipline to master in a crowd-less environment, suggesting that it might have played a part in England’s below-par displays in some of their games.

“I think it’s more difficult to engage with the game, particularly when you’re fielding more so on the boundary and nothing else is happening in the game and you’re trying to create something out of nothing,” he said.

“It’s always an area that we’re striving to work on. Very rarely do you have a perfect fielding display. With no crowd or atmosphere in the game, it’s actually one of the more challenging things do to.

“I think when you’re batting, you don’t really notice that there’s no crowd. I think when you’re bowling, maybe you notice it in between balls.

“But when you’re fielding, you notice it all the time, so it’s something that we’re looking into, trying to raise the intensity ourselves. But trying to do that for a long period of time is challenging, so we’ll have to find something.”

For unrivalled coverage of the county season, subscribe to The Cricketer and receive 3 issues for £5