‘Cool’ and ‘pretty awesome’ are the two words Eoin Morgan used to describe England’s performance in the last couple of World Cup games. Coming from a string of defeats - against Sri Lanka and Australia - the tournament favourites turned the tide with victories against India and New Zealand to enter the semifinals.
And the captain hailed his team’s aggressive instincts. “The World Cups are one-off games, so whatever the way you play, it should be the extremity of that on the day. You don’t get another chance and it has taken us time to get to grips with that,” Morgan said.
But he revealed that the team sticked to its own mantra, and didn't try to be desperate. Because, that approach, he feels, “doesn’t work for us and won’t win us the World Cup.”
Despite having superstars in its ranks, England has never won the title. But, this time, the side stands a chance to win the Cup at home. And a good thing for England is, the side has eight days in hand before it plays the semifinal at Edgbaston.
“I think we do have to tap in to what we have done in these last two games,” he added.
“It has been extremely important to get through, and it will be about tapping into that and identifying what we did well and seeing if that remains the priority…” Morgan pointed out.
The team enjoys playing in Edgbaston, and the players are happy to play such an important game at one of their favourite grounds.
“If we had a choice of where we would play our group stage games - Edgbaston, Oval, Trent Bridge would be the three grounds. It is comforting to be going to one of those three,” Morgan revealed.
“(The break) is a good thing, I can’t wait to do nothing and get distracted by other things. We rode the roller coaster of playing well, terrible and then good again. Particularly our bowlers need to get away and have a rest. We haven’t chopped and changed them all that much.”
The captain looks confident, just like its batting department.
“We bat all the way down, but those two are pushing the ceiling as to what guys can normally do. That was part of the process in the first two years of this four-year cycle,” he said.
But looking at where the guys are now, Morgan feels, ‘it’s incredible the talent they possess.’
“It brings excitement. The guys are buzzing, laughing and smiling at how ridiculous some of the shots they are able to play, good balls being hit for four or six and seeing how hard they are to bowl at.”
Many in the cricketing circles believe that this England side is the best in many years and the captain, who has weaved a dream for the last four years, agrees that this is the best England side he has been a part of, “by a stretch. By a long, long way…”
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