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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

June 30, 2019

Eoin Morgan

Birmingham, England, UK

England - 337/7 (50), India - 306/5 (50)

Q. Hi, Eoin. How do you feel after the back-to-back defeats? How does that speak of the character of your side?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, delighted. I think the manner in which we played today, particularly with the bat, was outstanding. It certainly resonates with everybody in the change room to the identity which we wanted to play with in this tournament. It's come at a really good time and against an extremely strong team. So we're delighted.

Q. Tell us a bit about Jonny Bairstow. He's obviously had a funny week, but he comes out and does that. He's got a little bit of previous in this regard, doesn't he?
EOIN MORGAN: He does tend to get fired up a lot, and that suits him regardless of what's happened during the week, any week, injuries or not. He likes a bit of fire in his belly, and I don't mind that when he comes out and plays like that and feels like the way he did. I think it's outstanding. It's definitely a match-winning knock. So we're delighted for him.

Q. And how important was Liam Plunkett today, and did you feel that you'd missed him in a couple of previous matches?
EOIN MORGAN: I don't think we've necessarily missed him. I think we probably haven't bowled as well in previous games. I think the wicket today suited Liam. Not only that, he came in and bowled beautifully. I think it's one thing saying that, yes, this week it will suit you, but another to come out and deliver like he did.

He's not played, obviously, recently, so to come off the bench and maintain the form that he's in is an outstanding effort from a very experienced player.

Q. What was your strategy against the spinners?
EOIN MORGAN: Well, to start, there never is one particular strategy to a bowling attack just simply because on any given day anybody can have a bad day and we can't account for that. So we want to put them under as much pressure as possible. I think actually when the spinners bowled that period -- you're talking about the Indian spinners, yeah?

Q. Yes.
EOIN MORGAN: That period from 10 to 20 overs was probably the difference between the game. I think we scored about 90-something runs in 10 or 11 overs. And it was quite evident to see, when the seam was run, the ball was not coming onto the bat, a little bit too pace, a little bit of purchase from cutters, slower balls.

So Jonny and Jason can make a wicket seem flat at different stages, and they did through that period. So it was a great period for us and obviously got us off to an unbelievable start. So we felt we were ahead of the game at that time.

Q. Rohit Sharma was just in here, and he spoke about the difference that Ben Stokes' innings made. Can you just talk a bit about how different that was, the role he played today, compared to some of the other innings he's had to play in this tournament?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, completely different. I think from the time I went in -- so the sort of role changes throughout the game, from the time I went in to him to Jos, just trying to play in innings that will potentially be a strike rate of 130, 140, that might get us up to that 320 type of score. But for Ben to do it and continue the form that he's been in and be so adaptable and just skillful towards the end was brilliant. The change room was bouncing when he was batting. It was great.

Q. Chris Woakes bowled three maidens up top, which is sort of unheard of, isn't it? Came back, got Sharma, and also took that outstanding catch. He's had a profitable day, I would think?
EOIN MORGAN: He has. I mention this all the time, when Woakes does well, he's a guy that goes unnoticed a lot of the time, but he's an extremely valuable player to us, great asset. Particularly in the first ten overs, I know the pitches haven't been that rewarding this time, but he's been extremely disciplined today and rewarded well.

Q. Eoin, it's been a tough week after those two defeats, but if someone had told you before the tournament you needed to win three games to win the World Cup, I'm guessing you would have taken that?
EOIN MORGAN: Yes, absolutely, particularly after a performance like today. If we had scraped through, lost the last two games, and they said, obviously, you have to turn things around but you don't know how you're going to play, having played the way we did today is very encouraging for us.

Q. Is that important psychologically, not just the win, but the manner of it?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, it is. The closer we can get to playing our A-game, the more of a chance we have of going the whole way. If we're scraping our way along, not playing the type of cricket we played in the last four years, I wouldn't be as confident.

Q. Does today just feather into line how important Jason is to this team? And how is he? Because obviously he didn't field.
EOIN MORGAN: He's good. When he was batting, he got hit on the arm and had quite a big bruise. It is just a bruise, and he should be fine. Obviously, having him back on the team is quite a big confidence booster for everybody, particularly when he plays like the way he did today. He's very intimidating, hard to bowl to, and he's a gun player.

Q. And does he help Jonny as well? They seem to thrive off each other?
EOIN MORGAN: I think they complement each other. I think today off their partnership it sort of ebbed and flowed for quite some time. I think Jonny took a little bit more time to get himself in but obviously capitalized on the start more so than Jason, but the two certainly looked to take the game to India.

Q. Full credit to the England bowlers for the way they executed their plans, but were you surprised that in the last ten overs that India actually lost with five wickets still in their hands and there was a lack of intent possibly in the last few overs?
EOIN MORGAN: I thought we bowled really well, and I don't think it was an easy wicket to hit 6s on. I don't know how many 6s were hit today, but it felt like it was down on probably a normal Edgbaston game where the wicket was normally quite good. So that's a good indicator. It felt like that. I don't know the numbers, but it just felt like that. I don't think it was easy to hit 6s on.

Q. Captain, can you talk about the crowd. There were probably more Indians than there are at an average county game.
(Laughter).

EOIN MORGAN: Average county game? I think there were more security than there were --

(Laughter).

What would you like me to say about that?

Q. Would you like more Indians to support county cricket?
EOIN MORGAN: Absolutely. I want everybody to support county cricket. It's not easy to do. It's midweek the majority of the time. The weekend, absolutely, if people can make it, as something they do with their family, it would be great. Yeah, I agree. I would love for more people to watch county cricket.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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