World Cup 2019: Morgan calm despite back-to-back defeats

England captain Eoin Morgan was confident that his team will get back to winning ways and reach the semifinals of World Cup 2019 following Monday's 64-run defeat against Australia.

Eoin Morgan felt that it is the his responsibility as the captain to lead by example in England's remaining two World Cup 2019 matches.

Two consecutive defeats -- against Sri Lanka and Australia -- may have put England in a spot of bother, but captain Eoin Morgan is still confident of reaching the World Cup 2019 semifinals.

“(The chances are) still strong. The chances are in our hands. Everything is within our control. We just need to produce a performance worthy of winning either one or the next two games,” Morgan said after going down to the Aussies by 64 runs at Lord’s on Tuesday.

Until a few days ago, things looked easy for England but the last two outings have seen the middle-order collapse, despite chasing moderate totals. Morgan felt that the batsmen have missed their 'mantra'.

“I think both this game and the last, we struggled with the basics of what we call our batting mantra. Strong intent, building partnerships, and doing it in our own way, and we haven’t done those for long enough periods of the game in order to either chase down 230 or chase down 280, and that's disappointing,” he said.

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Despite falling short of the target, Morgan said that the conditions at Lord's were challenging for both the teams.

“Not so much with the weather that we have had the last week or so. It's obviously been a challenge. There was a lot of rain around last night. The wicket this morning was soft. I think it was an advantage to win the toss. That is what you want to do, but the wicket was soft, and obviously it was challenging for Australia.”

Asked whether the team’s confidence has taken a hit after two back-to-back defeats, the England captain said: “I think it will take a little bit of a hit. But I certainly don't think it's knocked anybody in the changing room. Normally when we lose games of cricket, we go back to what we do well.”

To make it to the final-four, England needs to win at least one of its two games and Morgan felt that it is his responsibility to step up.

“I would like to lead from the front. I think majority of the captains have success with a team when they lead from the front. So contributions from myself and the next two games, obviously might have an impact on the changing room. So hopefully I can make a difference,” the captain said.