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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

July 3, 2019

Eoin Morgan

Chester-le-Street, County Durham, England, UK

England - 305-8, New Zealand - 186

Q. Eoin, can you tell us how it feels, an England captain heading to a semifinal?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, pretty cool, pretty awesome. Like I said after the India game, the way in which we played is more satisfying than the actual win because if you win the game, you go through to the next game or the following test full of confidence and I think today is a similar instance.

I think the wicket did change after 25 overs, but in teams I have played with in the past we would have played a completely different game to 25 overs and not made the most of it. Today we did and it was probably the winning of the game.

Q. Had you allowed yourself to think about what it would mean to not qualify for the semis after that Australia game? Did you worry?
EOIN MORGAN: If we had lost today, it would have been drawn out for the next couple of days, so wasn't really worth thinking about.

Q. In terms of where next, do you draw a line under the group stage and go again for two games, or do you try and tap in what you have achieved these last couple of games?
EOIN MORGAN: Yes, I think we do tap into what we have achieved the last two games. It's been extremely important to our campaign. It is obviously the reason that we have got through and we have been able to play some of our best cricket because of that. So tapping into that, identifying what we did well and if that still remains the same priority going into the semifinal, which I think it will.

Q. Eoin, Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow have the highest average of any ODI partnership that's had 30 innings by 15 runs, but also the highest strike rates of any ODI openers in history. How impressive is it that they are able to marry those two things? It is almost ripping up everything we know about one-day cricket?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, it's brilliant to play with, really. If their average wasn't as high and it was actually down, their strike rate was still the same, the manner in which they played is the most important because we bat all the way down. We are not asking our guys to average 50 and strike it at 120, that is unrealistic.

But pushing the ceiling as to what guys would normally do was part of the process in which we have gone through probably the first two years of the four-year cycle.

But looking at where the guys are at now, it is incredible, really, that the talent they possess and actually what they can achieve on a consistent basis.

Q. Sorry, one last quick one. For games like these and the semifinals, how much does that put a calmness through the dressing room when you are watching them out there? Does it ease everybody a little bit?
EOIN MORGAN: It is not really calmness, it is more excitement. The guys are buzzing, laughing, smiling at how ridiculous some of the shots the two guys are playing, good balls being hit for four or six, how difficult they are to bowl at. You have got to laugh at it (smiling).

Q. Eoin, Jofra bowled another very tidy opening spell today. How much easier has that made your life as captain throughout the tournament knowing the opposition openers probably aren't going to get off to a flyer?
EOIN MORGAN: They haven't really yet. Like, obviously that can change and I think having that sort of objective perspective on things is important because you can take the two guys for granted and they can take their position for granted, but I don't think they are.

I think TV is very good at staying on top of them and Chris Silverwood, our bowling coach, is extremely good at that as well. As a bowling unit we have been strong, consistently strong for some time now, but different guys have contributed at different stages. I think the last two games our opening bowling has been brilliant.

Q. Eoin, I guess the team's big match temperament was questioned after those back-to-back defeats. Do you think the pressure of these last two games have brought the best out of them and proved that actually you do have what it takes to win big knockout matches?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, I think we sort of knew that coming into the tournament, the difficult challenge in applying that to World Cup games is that it is just a one-off game. It lends itself more for you to be, whatever the way you play, it should be the extremity of that on the day because you don't get another chance and it's taken us time to get to grips with that, you know.

We do stick to our mantra the whole time and not actually be cagey, or desperate, or anything in those sort of regards... It doesn't work for us and it won't win us the World Cup, so yeah.

Q. Eoin, you've got a semifinal at Edgbaston now where you haven't lost. England haven't lost in ten matches across formats. Does that mean anything? Is this where you hope that home advantage could really kick in?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, it's a place that we really like playing. If we had a choice of where we would play our group-stage games, Edgbaston, The Oval and Trent Bridge would probably be the three grounds where we would have played the nine games, if it was just your own World Cup. So it is comforting that we are going to one of those three grounds.

Q. Eoin, what did you make of Woody's run-out and are those the moments you need if you are going to win a World Cup?
EOIN MORGAN: Yes, it's a hell of a lot of luck and to run Kane out is a massive bonus. He is a difficult guy to get out. He's obviously been their leading run scorer and one of the leading run scorers in the tournament so that was a lot of luck, yeah.

Q. You all seemed to enjoy Jonny's celebration, can you shed any light on what that was about?
EOIN MORGAN: Jonny will have to explain that to you himself (laughter).

Q. Eoin, it's a long time until you play that semifinal next week. Is that a good thing, a bad thing? Or does it not matter? What will you do in that time? Will it be possible to switch off from cricket knowing you have got one of the biggest games of your career coming up?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, I think it is a really good thing. I can't wait to do nothing, or get distracted by other things that I enjoy doing. It's been -- I suppose we have rode the rollercoaster of playing well, playing terrible and playing good again, so particularly our bowlers, they need a rest, they need to get away. We haven't chopped and changed the team a lot so our seamers do need a rest. And our batsmen need to get away from the game and hopefully come back fresh.

Q. A quick word on Liam Plunkett. He hasn't played on a losing side yet. Does he kind of have to play now?
EOIN MORGAN: The wickets have suited Liam down to the ground and I think even if the wickets are flat, he would still find a way of taking a wicket or building pressure somehow. He has an incredible knack of doing it.

He breeds a lot of confidence. He is a great character to have in the changing room as well so when he is doing well, it does breed a lot of confidence so hopefully that continues.

Q. Obviously, the wicket changed a wee bit, but it seemed to change when Roy and Bairstow were out. Are you able to quantify to a point how good they were, how much of a difference they made and whether it was the balls going softer as well, whether the pitch made that much difference, whether it changed that dramatically?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, the two of them are outstanding. I think when they play like that and build a partnership -- and one of the things that sort of that stands out for me that doesn't happen in any normal partnership, it happens in great partnerships, is that both of them ebbed and flowed. Jonny got off to a flyer, Jason was quite slow to start and then caught up and Jonny slowed down. It was really brilliant to watch because normally you have two guys competing with each other the whole time trying to get ahead, trying to get the strike, trying to be more dominant, whereas as a partnership they are extremely dominant.

Yeah, I can't really explain why it did. I don't know.

Q. Were you surprised?
EOIN MORGAN: Extremely surprised, considering how it started. I don't think I have played on a wicket that has changed as dramatically as that. When I was in, I hit two cover drives in the air. I didn't mean to hit them in the air. I tried to keep them along the ground. One went for four and the other I got out to. So it was, yeah...

Q. How do you motivate someone like Jonny? Do you slip him the morning newspapers and the tweets...
EOIN MORGAN: I don't have, he reads it all himself (smiling).

Q. Which particular player's growth has satisfied you as a captain, after you have taken over, which particularly player's growth has made you happy?
EOIN MORGAN: Probably all of them. Some haven't been as surprising as other guys who have unbelievable talent like Root -- Root, Stokes, Buttler, they do extraordinary things all the time. Guys who have come in at the start of this four-year cycle and where they are now are truly some of the best players in the world -- Jason Roy and Johnny are some of those players. Probably in that short space of time it's been great to play with those guys and watch their journey.

Q. You have been a part of the England team for a long time now. This team has explosive openers, fast bowlers who are really quick. Is this the best ODI side England, that you have been a part of?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, by a stretch. By a long, long way.

Q. Going back to the pitches, are you concerned the toss is becoming too important in this tournament. Teams are batting first and the surfaces seem to get worse considerably for the teams who bat second?
EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, before the tournament started I thought that might be a trend, the toss, being a huge deciding factor in the game, but I thought it would have been the other way around. I thought the ball might have swung a bit more if conditions were cloudy and there was a bit of rain around and everybody would have bowled first and chased. It's been the complete opposite, so it shows how much I know (smiling). But it is what it is.

I suppose during that period of five or six years when pretty much every game of t20 cricket there was like a 20 percent advantage in winning the toss and chasing because you obviously win a lot of the time. I thought something might have been done about the toss THEN and if it wasn't done THEN, I don't think it was ever going to be changed, so there is nothing we can do about it.

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