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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

June 29, 2019

Eoin Morgan

Birmingham, England, UK

EDWARD: Hello everyone. We're the Playground Pundits, and we're taking over tomorrow's match to help raise money for One Day 4 Children. I'm Edward, and I'm going to be your media manager for the day. I'm very excited to introduce England's captain, Eoin Morgan.

We're now handing over to Neha.

(Applause.)

NEHA: Hi, Eoin. I'm Neha, and I'm going to ask you, are you excited for tomorrow's match?

EOIN MORGAN: Yes, I'm really excited about tomorrow's match. Every time we play India is always an exciting day, and considering it's a World Cup game as well, it makes it that much more exciting. So yeah.

NEHA: Thank you very much. I'm going to hand it over to you.

RHUDRA: Hello, Eoin. I'm Rhudra. How do you prepare your England side for as big a match as tomorrow's?

EOIN MORGAN: I think, when you're preparing for a game like tomorrow, you tend to call on previous occasions when you've played the team that you're going to play the following day. You gain confidence or look at strengths, the positive things that have happened, and look forward to the game ahead.

Good job, guys. Very good.

Q. How's Jason Roy's hamstring? What chances of him playing tomorrow?
EOIN MORGAN: Jason is preparing to play tomorrow. Providing he gets through to today's practice and tomorrow morning unscathed, we think that he might be fit to play.

Q. Would you risk him if he wasn't, given the importance of this game and the importance of him?
EOIN MORGAN: Depending on the significance of the risk. If it was going to rule him out long term, absolutely not. If it was going to rule him out for a couple of weeks, yes.

Q. And how is Jofra Archer? He didn't bowl yesterday, I don't think.
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, he didn't. We're going to see how he comes through today. It's the same thing he's been playing with the last three games. So we'll see how he comes through today.

Q. It's a side problem, isn't it?
EOIN MORGAN: It is, yes.

Q. Again, would you risk him given the enormity of the game?
EOIN MORGAN: Again, the exact same rule applies. If it's going to rule him out long term, no. If it's going to be short term, yes.

Q. How are the players handling the pressure you find yourself in? How are you handling the pressure?
EOIN MORGAN: Well, I think. I think we're in an extremely lucky position to be in playing in a home World Cup for your own country is an extremely privileged position to be in, presents a huge opportunity. Two more group stage games left. If we win the two, go through two semifinals, if we win that, we get through to a World Cup final. There's still a lot on the line, and we're really looking forward to it.

Q. Is this a game you must win? Is it must win? I know, Australia, you said it wasn't, and technically you could lose it, but it doesn't bear thinking about, does it?
EOIN MORGAN: No, it's not worth thinking about at the moment. Mathematically, there's still a chance if we win one out of the two games, but certainly we want to win tomorrow's game. It's a huge priority.

Q. Eoin, have you been disappointed with anything that you've seen from your players in this World Cup? Either technically or in their approach or anything which you feel as a captain they've let you down in?
EOIN MORGAN: No, I can't fault the commitment or application that the guys have produced in every single game. Where we've let ourselves down as a group is adapting to conditions. It's been a bigger challenge in this World Cup than previous bilateral series that we've played. So tomorrow's going to be the exact same. We're going to have to adapt to conditions, adapt to playing against a strong side in India.

Q. So that's adapting to the conditions on the pitch rather than adapting to the occasion, you think?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah.

Q. And in terms of the occasion, we know, because when we've had big matches here before, the Indian flavour to the ground will be intense?
EOIN MORGAN: Absolutely.

Q. Are you looking forward to that? I wonder if it helps in a way.
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, I sort of recall the Champions Trophy final that we played India here the last time was a complete away game. Again, we have a number of fans in the ground, but just the noise that the Indian fans make with their horns and various different things makes it that much more louder. So, yeah, tomorrow is going to feel like an away game.

Q. Captain, one of your senior players have alleged that critics are wanting you to lose, and he's also said that your team is not used to playing on such surfaces and the surfaces got changed. So how do you look at these comments?
EOIN MORGAN: I think critics are there to be critical. We haven't performed well, so they are going to be critical. They're entitled to their own opinion. I think the support that we've had from our fans and everybody around the country has been unbelievable. It has been outstanding. There's been an enormous amount of good faith and good will going around, and it's making our tournament at the moment, it's making it that much more special to be a part of and to play in.

As regards to conditions, they are what they are. We can't control them. It's not a talking point for us. It's a matter of us being better at adapting to conditions.

Q. So are you disappointed with the remark?
EOIN MORGAN: What remark?

Q. The remark on the team. Are you disappointed in it?
EOIN MORGAN: No. He's entitled to his opinion, like critics are. That's the way he feels.

Q. In terms of the conditions, obviously, you guys have thrived on high scoring pitches and sort of flat tracks, I guess. You obviously would want that to happen, but with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, it's a high stakes game, isn't it?
EOIN MORGAN: It is. If it's a bilateral series, regardless, we want to play on the best possible wicket, preferably a batting wicket, and we always do. We bat deep. We bat strong. We tend to play in high scoring games. So it's an area that we'd be more confident playing. I think everybody knows that.

Q. Eoin, after the defeat to Australia, Ben Stokes was quite defiant, as I guess you'd expect him to be, but he said, this is our World Cup. Do you share that sort of destiny with him? Does the team? Or is that an individual thing for him?
EOIN MORGAN: I think it's more individual. I think every individual has their own method, faith, belief in what is going to take us forward. But I think, in particular for Ben, that's one.

Q. People in sport often like the biggest this and the fastest that. Does this feel like the most important game of your captaincy?
EOIN MORGAN: No, I don't think so. I think some of the most important ones that I've had to date, semi-final at the Champions Trophy, that was quite significant. If we hadn't learned from that and progressed on wickets that had been more challenging, I probably wouldn't have still been captain.

If we didn't change the way we played, if we didn't show a more expansive game, if we didn't grow as a team, if we didn't progress to one of the top three ranked teams in the world -- big, big challenges. Tomorrow is another one of those potential challenges, yeah.

Q. How England ultimately performs in this tournament have an impact or affect your decision on whether to stay on as captain?
EOIN MORGAN: No.

Q. So are you going anyway or staying anyway?
(Laughter).

EOIN MORGAN: Going where?

Q. I mean, have you -- probably not top of your list of thoughts.
EOIN MORGAN: It's not something I want to talk about. It's not about me. It's about the team.

Q. Does that mean you made a decision but you want to keep it to yourself?
EOIN MORGAN: No. There's no talking point around this. It's about tomorrow and the following game.

Q. The record against England has not been very good, whether it's the World Cup or the last 30 ODIs, it's in favor of India. Out of the four World Cups, you guys managed to win the 2007 World Cup, but India has won '99 and the rest of them, 2015 as well. So do you think tomorrow you guys can go and change that?
EOIN MORGAN: Yes, I do. I do.

(Laughter).

The reason behind is the last time we played India, we beat them in a series. I think it was this time last year or the year before, one or the other. The team that's been together has had success against India. We lost away from home in a very close, tight series, but we believe because we have beat them before. Thank you.

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