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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

June 25, 2019

Eoin Morgan

London, England, UK

Australia - 285/7 (50), England - 221 (44.4)

Q. Where does that leave your chances of qualifying for the semifinals?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, 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.

Q. What needs to change? What needs to improve if that's to happen?
EOIN MORGAN: I think both this game and the last, we struggled with the basics of what we call our batting mantra. You know, 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.

Q. Confidence is such a key thing but also a fragile thing, three defeats now. Has it taken a hit?
EOIN MORGAN: 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, like I mentioned yesterday, we go back to what we do well. We'll still strive to do that for Sunday's game.

Q. Did Australia bowl a lot of good wicket-taking balls, or was it poor shot selection that was to blame?
EOIN MORGAN: I think early on they bowled well. Been 20 for three and having us 20 for three obviously creates a bigger challenge, chasing 280. So to make those inroads, I thought they bowled well.

Q. Ben stokes is a kind of leader of the resistance with the bat but was struggling physically. Can you tell us how difficult it was for him out there and what you made of his attempt to save the game, win the game?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, he obviously struggled with cramp. It was a one-day. Ben contributes in all three facets of our game plan. Today was quite a big day for him. He's obviously in very, very good form, and it's partly disappointing that in an innings like that, almost goes to one side because we lost the game. Similar to Trent Bridge where the two boys got 100s. Similar to Ben's innings the other day.

Q. Jason Behrendorff was in just before you and suggested that you guys might have bowled a bit too short with the new ball, and that's kind of what they took their cue from, to try to hit the stumps a bit more.
EOIN MORGAN: Of course he did.

Q. Would you agree with that assessment?
EOIN MORGAN: Of course he did. (Laughter).

Early on, I don't think we did. I've just been showed a highlight reel of short deliveries in which poor shots were played. They were supposed to be short. They were aimed at guy's shoulder or armpit. I thought we didn't have a little bit of green early. We made Australia play and miss a lot. But that's his opinion and he's entitled to it.

Q. Sorry, it's another opinion, but Ken Pearson took to Twitter and said you looked scared from the ball and were backing away from Mitchell Starc.
EOIN MORGAN: Really? Excellent.

Q. You didn't feel that way?
EOIN MORGAN: No. No. That didn't feel like that way at all.

Q. How do you see your job as captain now? Obviously the team's been together in camp for a long time. The results, last two, have been bad. Do you see that you've got a particular job now to lift everyone?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, ideally, I'd 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.

Q. You said you struggled with the basics of your batting mantra. Where have those basics gone, and is it too simplistic too look at Jason Roy's absence as being quite crucial?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, I think it is. I think our basics get challenged a lot more when we don't play on batter-friendly wickets; when you probably have to rotate the strike a lot more, as opposed to find the boundary more often than not.

Q. You talked about the mantra again. Is there any time when the mantra changes or is it mantra all the way through, whatever the circumstances?
EOIN MORGAN: Always evolving. I don't know if you've watched the last two years of the way that we've played but it's evolved quite a lot.

Q. During this tournament?
EOIN MORGAN: During this tournament, yeah, absolutely. I thought the way we played against Afghanistan in the first 15 overs, and probably in 2015 and '16, would not have happened. Maybe parts of '17.

Q. Just to talk about the Australian left-armers bowled well today. Was that a struggle for your team or good bowling from them?
EOIN MORGAN: They are pretty good bowlers. I thought the wicket might have well suited the way that they bowl, as well. They bowl pretty straight, use change of pace quite well. But I think a huge contribution towards that was taking wickets up front.

Q. In World Cups, you haven't beaten Australia in 29 years. Is there, even on a subconscious level, a fear of them?
EOIN MORGAN: No.

Q. Why?
EOIN MORGAN: Because I've only played against them in two World Cups. 29 years doesn't mean -- I'm 32 years old.

Thanks, mate. Nice.

Q. Are you surprised by the pitches in this World Cup?
EOIN MORGAN: Not so much with the weather that we've 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.

Q. Presuming there's no mileage at all in complaining about that or worrying about that, you just have to get on with it?
EOIN MORGAN: No, whether it's today, tomorrow, next week, during the semifinals, whenever it happens, the wickets are going to be slow, low, they will wear. That's the way -- the nature of ICC events.

Thank you.

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