	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

June 17, 2019

Eoin Morgan

Manchester, England, UK

Q. Good to see you walking and sat there fairly comfortably. Can you give us an update on your back, how is it?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, drastically improved. I've had extensive treatment and medication the last two days, which have helped me no end. I've had a small hit in the nets, and hopefully be fit to play in the morning. It will all depend on how I pull up but aiming to play tomorrow.

Q. Can you also give us an update on Jason Roy? We've obviously been given the news that he's torn a hamstring. Do you know how serious that tear is, and are we likely to see him play again in this tournament?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, I certainly believe Jason will play again in this tournament. At the moment he's going to be assessed continuously over the course of the next week. He's out of the next two games. So we'll see how he pulls up after that.

Q. But you're optimistic he might be back for Australia?
EOIN MORGAN: No, absolutely. If not Australia, maybe the following game.

As we know with injuries, people respond differently to treatment and medication, so it's a matter of seeing -- giving him enough time to allow him to get himself back into the tournament.

Q. We saw James Vince had a fairly lengthy net. Does that mean that he is the man you're looking at to maybe come in to replace Jason?
EOIN MORGAN: Yes, he is replacing Jason Roy tomorrow at the top of the order.

Q. And in terms of the balance of the side, obviously the pitch would have had two days to recover from another match. Does it favour the spinners? Are you likely to go down that route?
EOIN MORGAN: I think having watched the game, India -- Pakistan. It offered enough I think for both. I think with the seam it went through and bounced quite nicely, and then it turned a little bit with the spinners. So we've just been out to look at the wicket. It still hasn't been like dressed up, prepared and rolled so we'll have another look again in the morning as to what balance of bowling lineup we'll go with.

Q. When yourself and Jason were struggling, were the conversations started about who might be asked to come in, should you be needing a replacement in the tournament; you might need to get somebody up to speed. Have those kind of conversations even be had?
EOIN MORGAN: When we selected the squad, we did have conversations sort of underlying replacements for particular players. So they are always ongoing in the background and I'm not involved in a lot of them. I'm sort of quite focused on the group and task at hand. But there are always conversations going on in the background. I think the other day, certainly, it was a matter of getting the two scans back and seeing what process we could go through to get us both back playing as quickly as possible. And once we could get indication when that might be, we would cross that bridge.

Q. Just wondered in terms of those people who are being considered, Alex Hales; is that name in the discussions? Has it been in the discussions, given the last time we spoke to you about him?
EOIN MORGAN: Again, I've not been part of any discussions simply because I've been firmly focused on managing the players and everything else that's ongoing. Again, that's not something -- I haven't spoken to Ed Smith since the selection meeting. So I don't know.

Q. On that one, you were very much heavily involved when Alex was left out of the group. Presumably you would be the man to decide whether enough time has passed for him to be welcomed back if there was a need for a replacement. Would you be inclined to have him back?
EOIN MORGAN: I think it would be a case of speaking to Ed because ultimately Ed gets the final call and say on who is involved in the 15, and then addressing how that would look in a changing room setup, yeah.

Q. Obviously Jason is a very important player. How long would you be prepared to wait for him if he wasn't fit for Australia?
EOIN MORGAN: I think going on a game-on-game basis, depending on where he were in the tournament and how crucial the games were that we needed to win, I'd be able to answer that question then. He's obviously a huge part of what we've been doing. He's in the best form of his life. So he's very important.

Q. Are you going to play tomorrow? Are you okay to play?
EOIN MORGAN: I'm positive about playing. So unless I pull up worse tomorrow, I'll be playing.

Q. Okay. So yeah, so see how you are in the morning --
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah.

Q. -- but at some stage, the plan is to play?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, if the game was today, I think I could play yeah.

Q. On Jason, forgive my ignorance, I'm not a doctor, but how quickly can a guy recover from a torn hamstring? Ten days --
EOIN MORGAN: I'm not a doctor either (laughter). So you'll have to excuse my ignorance.

Q. It does seem quite optimistic, though.
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, very optimistic. I mean, there's a reason we'd keep him around. One, obviously is he's a very key player, but two, is there a very optimistic chance of him playing.

Q. Cool.
EOIN MORGAN: Thank you.

Q. Is there any thought to getting everyone in the squad a game before maybe Knockout Stage where is they could have to come in at short notice? I think of sort of Ryder Cup-style captaincy?
EOIN MORGAN: At the moment, there's not. It's all about qualifying, and if we do get to that period at some stage we might look into it.

Q. Is there any thought of resting Adil, who will have to look his best tomorrow, whose angle we know is a little problematic?
EOIN MORGAN: No, and I disagree with you. Adil has probably been at his best in the last two games. He's been unlucky. He's had two dropped catches. I think that might have been the turning of how his figures look, but actually how it's coming out of the hand is very impressive.

Q. The shoulder's fine?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, the shoulder's fine. Thank you.

Q. Plunkett's absent today.
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah. A little bit of illness, and it's more precautionary to stay away from the group and not to spread anything, and to give him the best chance for -- to be selected tomorrow.

Q. And just on Jason again. He was out for seven weeks when he tweaked his hamstring in the Caribbean, came back and hurt his back/hamstring, three more weeks early in the season. So the kind of medical history suggests that he might be of a more lengthy absence than you hope.
EOIN MORGAN: Everything we're hearing from the medical staff suggests otherwise. Like I said, we're hopeful.

Q. Do they put a number on these things in terms of grade one, two, three, what sort?
EOIN MORGAN: I think they do. There will have been a report somewhere, yeah.

Q. Have you looked at it?
EOIN MORGAN: I've looked at it, but it doesn't register a lot with me. It's how long is he going to be out for and how optimistic can we be.

Q. Right. So you didn't notice a one or two or a three?
EOIN MORGAN: No, I didn't (Laughter).

Q. Two and a half weeks into the tournament, and two of the teams which were supposed to be the strongest, England and India. So India have been shaping up quite well. They had a good win over Pakistan here yesterday. So how do you look at India's performance, and do you think are your strongest opposition?
EOIN MORGAN: I think New Zealand are sliding under the radar. They are extremely strong at the moment, along with India, both have put in performances, no doubt, over the next week sore so. We did see Bhuvneshwar Kumar go down in that last game. No doubt over the next week, there will be more injuries and surprises throughout the tournament. So it will be how teams respond to that, and the strength that they have within their squad of 15 players.

Q. Given the fact that you are red-hot favourites tomorrow, do you have to be careful on the mental preparation for this match against Afghanistan to be a little too confident?
EOIN MORGAN: I would like to think in a couple of games so far we've been head hot favourites and underlining our preparation is the humility and the gratitude with which we go about things, and that's an important part of trying to beat teams like Afghanistan. We went through the same process in the warm up game. They are a strong side. I said previous to the tournament, they will beat teams in this World Cup. They haven't managed to do that yet. So that makes tomorrow, you know, a tougher challenge.

Q. Does the injury to Jason Roy underline what an opportunity Alex Hales has passed up at this World Cup?
EOIN MORGAN: Oh, I think that was recognised at the start of, I suppose, his de-selection, yeah.

Q. Can I just ask, how wary are you of Rashid Khan on a used pitch? Obviously we've seen the Merlyn spin bowling machine out on the nets today. Is that something that the players -- that's a big challenge, isn't it?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, I think there are three spinners. It's probably their strongest component as a team. It's a challenge that we're going to have to overcome. Pretty much every time we play against an Asian team, that's the case. You look over at where they are practising, they are practising against quicks, and look over at our nets and we're practising against spin. That's just a challenge that both sides come up against.

Q. You said that James Vince will play tomorrow. Forgive me if you did say, will he definitely open the batting?
EOIN MORGAN: He will definitely open the batting, yeah.

Q. And did you give any thought maybe if Moeen comes back in as to where he might bat? His batting output has not matched up to his bowling at the moment. Are you concerned about that and maybe the power play might be a reasonable place for him to get some form?
EOIN MORGAN: I think it's a reasonable place for everybody to get some form. It seems to be the nicest place to bat at the moment. But I mean, if we manage to qualify, we'll look at players and how they are going and what sort of time in the middle or bowling they need to get under their belt for later stages but our first priority at the moment is trying to get into that top four slot.

Q. And just in terms of the pitch and the conditions, are you still very much a feel-first attitude?
EOIN MORGAN: I'm not quite sure at the moment.

Q. Or do you have to switch?
EOIN MORGAN: I'm not quite sure. I'm interested to see if the turn of the wicket might have been because of the weather that was around the other day. It might have been a bit tacky. At the moment it feels very hard. So in the morning we'll have a look and see if it's soft or if it's rock-hard and make a call then.

Q. How crucial tomorrow match is to you? Do you think you will take Afghanistan lightly or because you have already beat them in warmup match?
EOIN MORGAN: In effect, a warmup match doesn't mean a great deal. This week for us is a very important week. We've had a lot of space in between games, which has allowed us to come into the games that we've played extremely fresh. I think the challenge over the next week or ten days is going to be how quickly we can bounce back from either good results or defeats.

Thank you very much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297