Eoin Morgan hopes Ireland series identifies middle-order candidates

HUW TURBERVILL: Morgan is without England’s Test squad of 14 for the Pakistan series, which includes six of his World Cup-winning party from last year: Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood

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England white-ball captain Eoin Morgan hopes the ODIs against Ireland will identify middle-order batting candidates for their World Cup defence.

Morgan is without England’s Test squad of 14 for the Pakistan series, which includes six of his World Cup-winning party from last year: Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood.

Liam Plunkett has been eased into international retirement so that leaves himself, vice-captain Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy and James Vince.

With Root and Stokes away, that appears to suggest Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Joe Denly and Vince will have chances to stake their claims at the Ageas Bowl on Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday.

“Going into the next World Cup [in India in 2023] we need guys making good decisions under pressure, and experience lends itself to that,” said Morgan. “We'll continue to give opportunities but it's to those guys we feel might have an impact in selection on the next two T20 World Cups (2021 and 2022) or the next 50-over World Cup.

“We have an abundance of top-order batters and possibly an area that we need to fill is in the lower and middle order where we need a bit more strength in depth.”

Billings, 29, is supremely talented but so far averages only 22 (strike-rate 90) from 15 ODIs, although he can also keep.

Denly, 34, has been discarded from the Test squad. He averages 34 (strike-rate 70) from his 16 ODIs.

Vince, 29, has played 13 ODIs – he averages 24 (strike-rate 88); that includes three innings at last summer’s World Cup, when he scored 26, 14 and 0 after being drafted in as a replacement for Alex Hales, who failed a drugs test.

Then there is the exciting Banton, 21, who has made 50 runs (strike-rate 90) in his two ODI innings so far.

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Tom Banton offers England a hugely exciting talent for the future

“Joe Denly played really well in South Africa,” said Morgan. “That was a long time ago now but he’s still a high-quality player. Creating opportunities for him is important to us. With Joe, age is not something we talk about – he’s fit and agile as anybody. It’s about his desire and hunger to play and succeed.

“I think it’s unfair to judge James on the World Cup. The guy who had the opportunities in the lead-in to the World Cup or as the spare batsmen [Hales] tested positive in a drugs test and was ruled out… so those opportunities might have fallen to James. He would have been better positioned going into it. James has been on a lot of tours but hasn’t necessarily had the opportunity.

“Sam has performed day in, day out for Kent. He’s had opportunities – 15 ODIs over the last two or three years – to fulfil the role that we see is an important one. Hopefully we can give him opportunities as well.”

On whether it was harsh on Phil Salt and Sam Hain being left out of this squad, Morgan said: “Selection was particularly difficult. Over the last four and a bit years we've always had tough decisions to make and I think everybody who was left out was a tough call.

“We're blessed with a high-calibre group of top-order batters, not only in the first XI but also in the wings. Even the guys who will play this series and the guys who are left out will probably need some injuries to get call-ups. It's a product of having a consistently strong team over a period of time: it's allowed players to spend more time at county cricket so your highly talented players aren't playing a handful of county games and then automatically being called up to the national team.”

Asked if being champions will make it harder to win the next World Cup, Morgan said: “I would rather be in that position than not winning [last year] and having to find a winning formula. 

“Winning last year has given our guys a huge amount of confidence in the process, strategy and planning by which we went through over a four-year period. It allows us to go into every World Cup with that strategy and forward-thinking. Seeing the finish product was an eye opener for everybody who hadn’t won a World Cup.

“But also it creates a level of expectation everywhere we go. That’s one that sits well with some of our guys but for a lot of our guys they haven’t experienced that so it’s important to recognise what is expected of us moving forward. Because we want to win more trophies.”

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Joe Denly made 87 in the first ODI against South Africa in February

If there had not been a pandemic, England’s ODIs this year would have enabled them to enjoy a lap of honour of sorts, marking their World Cup triumph.

“I think given the context of everything that's gone on over the last five months or so, we are extremely happy to be playing,” Morgan said. “Things are moving quite quickly outside of the bubble: I know Middlesex and Surrey over the weekend had spectators so potentially down the line that might progress but given the context and the serious nature of the virus, we're just delighted both to be back playing but also to have cricket back on TV. There's a huge and monumental effort gone into everything to make it happen so we're extremely grateful for that and also grateful for Ireland coming over.”

Dublin-born Morgan is not underestimating Ireland’s threat. “They will be very much up for it given the limited fixtures they have, having two sides pull out of tours this summer. They will be looking to cause an upset and win the series definitely.

“The most important thing for Irish cricket is playing as many fixtures as they can. The guys will get better. If you have a group of young, talented players you can’t just have the sitting on the sidelines. I said the same when they gained Test status – that’s great, but what fixtures are they going to play? It’s great that they are getting more and more – but you can always give more.”

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