ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

October 22, 2021

Eoin Morgan

Dubai International Stadium

Afghanistan

Pre Match Media Conference

Q. 24 hours away now or a little bit more actually. How is the mood in the camp? Is there a feeling that you can do something really special over the next few weeks?

EOIN MORGAN: The feeling is good. We're all excited. A lot of our guys have played in one if not at least two T20 World Cups, and given the experience we had in 2016 and the ride that we went on, it was unbelievable, thoroughly enjoyable. We've played some of our best ever cricket in T20 World Cups, so guys are excited. Probably more so at the opportunity than anything else.

Q. Under your stewardship, England have been quite all-out aggressive or certainly looked to take the attacking opportunity up from the start. Is that a mantra you will continue to push over the tournament?

EOIN MORGAN: I think probably over the last two years in T20 international cricket are probably our most consistent, certainly in my captaincy, or period as captain. We've shown that we can get 200 or maybe more and also play in a bit of a dogfight game, say 130 or 140 game, and I think the side who adapts to all three venues the best throughout this tournament will go on and win, and I think within our squad we have the ability to do that. We obviously have to be on top of our game, adapt well and be confident with it.

So guys are excited at the challenge, as well. There's a reason we have been considered contenders for this tournament. It's because of the level of expectation that guys have created with their performance, and that in itself is exciting, as well.

Q. Are you able to confirm your lineup? Have you seen the pitch yet? If not, do you know roughly what the side will be, how many spaces might be available?

EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, we have not seen the pitch yet. We're not training here today. The first opportunity I'll get to see it is tomorrow, so we won't be announcing anything yet, as usual. But again, I think competition for places is huge within the squad of 15. Everybody is hungry for opportunity, which is a good sign.

Q. You spoke earlier in the week about how special it would be for the team to hold the two World Cups, the 50-over and the Twenty20. What would it mean to you? I think only MS Dhoni has captained sides to T20 and 50-over World Cup glory among male cricketers, so what would it mean to you to win this competition?

EOIN MORGAN: I think as much as it would to everybody else within the squad. I think the passion and determination or ambition within the squad is quite big, and that grows year on year, so would obviously be a special achievement. We know how grueling World Cups can be and how hard they can be, not only to go through to latter stages but how grueling group stage games are and the ebb and flow of a tournament, as well. Like I mentioned, we're looking forward to that challenge.

Q. Before the 50-over World Cup you were very clear that you needed a certain amount of experience to be contenders and you knew that the teams that were ranked 1 or 2 would go on to win. That doesn't appear to be the case in T20 cricket, a bit different. What do you think therefore are the keys, and does it help that you're the No. 1 ranked side in the world?

EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, here I think it can only help that we're not only ranked No. 1. Obviously the favourites are ranked just below us. But I think like the experience of playing in conditions that we will come up against I think is going to be key in this tournament. Guys that have either been here, playing in the IPL or have played here previously or in conditions in Sri Lanka and India and feel comfortable around the challenge that it might pose in setting or chasing a target, how to defend one equally, I think that's going to be the biggest challenge for everybody.

Q. When it comes to finalising your 11, what's the main criteria that you're going to be considering? Is it purely conditions and matching those kind of skills, or does form count for much?

EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, here I think the two main criteria we've always worked on are venues that we play on, so conditions like you mentioned, but also the opposition that we're playing against, as well.

Q. You've had five and a half years to think about your last game in a T20 World Cup. What would you say the guys have learnt in that time about T20 cricket?

EOIN MORGAN: I think they've learned more about their own game. They've had more clarity and experience. They've had more failures. They've had more success. They've experienced different tournaments around the world. I probably think since then it's probably a little bit of a catalyst for a majority of our guys being picked up in various tournaments at a sought-after rate. You see guys going to the Big Bash, the IPL, and not going there to not just be another player, going there with ambitions of being the best in the tournament.

Q. In the last tournament you didn't quite get on with the level of expectation as you are doing this time. Do you guys relish that sort of being in a spotlight a bit more?

EOIN MORGAN: I think it's just been part of the journey. I think that's the last time that we went into a tournament where we weren't favourites. This is the next tournament that we're going in, but obviously we're second favourites. I would say probably going into 2016 we were more of an afterthought as opposed to considered a genuine side that could or would progress throughout the tournament.

I mean, if you go back Champions Trophy 2017, 2019 and then now, we've made a lot of progress, and guys are proud of the progress but want to continue being contenders when we turn up at a World Cup.

Q. You talked about the ebb and flow of a tournament. You start tomorrow. There's been a lot of talk about dew. You're playing in the evening. The heat will still be there. You're playing West Indies who have a very fearsome batting attack particularly. How do you feel about that as a match? Would you prefer a more gentle start to the tournament?

EOIN MORGAN: It doesn't really bother us. We know at the beginning of a tournament probably more so with this format and probably the 50-over format where you have a couple of games to get yourself in, but you don't have to be the best team in the tournament right from the very beginning. You need to be the smartest, most experienced, most adaptable side in order to do well in the early stages of a tournament, and regardless of how soft your entry is into a tournament, depending on what sort of team turns up, sort of depends on the outcome.

Q. Fans in World Cups of whatever sport plot their team's journey through a tournament, think about easy draws, hard draws, good starts, bad starts; do you look at tournaments like that at all?

EOIN MORGAN: No, not at all. I said this before the start of the 2019 World Cup that I really enjoyed the format because the best side at the end of the group stage are most likely to be the best side over the course of the last four years. You have a lot of opportunities to play every team. There's no hiding. There's no scenario where you can dodge a bullet.

If a side progresses in this tournament, they deserve to be there, and it's not a case of what name is on their shirt. It's the performance that they put in.

Q. This team has been pretty much unchanged for the last five or six years. Does it feel like kind of a last hurrah for this group of players?

EOIN MORGAN: I don't think so. I think there are plenty more opportunities given the age group that the guys are at. I think when you look at the mainstays of the group that have been around the longest, they're coming into the peak of their powers really. Look at Buttler, Stokes, Archer, Roy, Bairstow, guys like that coming through, they'll definitely play the next T20 and 50-over World Cup and it'll be up to them what they do past that.

Q. Will you play the next T20 World Cup?

EOIN MORGAN: I'm hoping to (smiling).

Q. The way round 1 has worked out, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are in your group, two Test playing nations. Does that make life more difficult for you?

EOIN MORGAN: Not really. I think Scotland have probably been the team of the tournament so far. They've played really well. They've deserved to win the games that they've won and gone through and progressed. Like I've mentioned, the name of the country on the shirt is irrelevant really when it comes to World Cups. You need to prove your worth through performance.

Q. I just wondered what your experience of playing in these conditions have been, particularly the dew factor. David really spoke to us the other day about soaking his hands in buckets of water and balls. Do you think it could make bowling second in particular that much more difficult?

EOIN MORGAN: Here I'm stating the obvious when I say it's an advantage to chase if there is dew around. It is tougher for bowlers; the ball does tend to skid on a little bit more. But every team is in the same boat. Every team is going to come up against this challenge throughout the World Cup. It's been a factor throughout the IPL recently. It hasn't been around every night, so it's harder to predict when it will fall or not. So yeah.

Q. What do you make of this West Indies team, a pretty phenomenal batting lineup. Are you confident there won't be any mental scars from what happened back in 2016?

EOIN MORGAN: The West Indies are a strong team with a lot of experience. They have a lot of guys that have been around for a very long time. We've played them a lot over the last three years, both as individuals and in various tournaments around the world, but in an England shirt, as well. It's been a long time since we've played them in a T20 World Cup, so we're looking forward to it.

Q. And no mental scars you don't think from 2016?

EOIN MORGAN: No.

Q. Why are you so confident on that?

EOIN MORGAN: I think some of the biggest disappointments in any career are more learnings than scars. I think if there were scars we would have lost a lot of players that wouldn't have progressed like they have done over the last four or five years throughout their careers, and I think the development of the side has, I suppose, reinforced that any time we've come up against a side that has beaten us in whatever fashion they have, we've always looked to learn and progress and become a better side.

Q. You said that you were going to take the knee against the West Indies but weren't sure whether you would do it before, and clearly the team took the knee with the West Indies in the English summer in 2020 and then didn't thereafter. Can you explain why you might only take the knee against predominantly Black team, and does that suggest that you believe in what you're doing or doing it just out of looking right?

EOIN MORGAN: No, I think there's two different points to that. Tomorrow we'll join the West Indies in taking a knee to show our support in the fight against racism. The second part of it is we've always felt that we need something that within our squad and our side that we feel a part of making a change, both locally and nationally and potentially globally. Our moment of unity that we have had at home for quite a period of time has been our piece of, I suppose, cultural development, education, raising awareness within that space, as well, and it's worked for us, and it's progressing nicely and guys are engaged and want to do more.

Unfortunately during this tournament we're not able to do that. If we could do that every game, we would. But yeah, we're more than happy to take a knee tomorrow.