ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

October 30, 2021

Eoin Morgan

Dubai International Stadium

England

Post Match Media Conference

England 126/2 19.5/20, Australia 125 20/20

Q. I guess you enjoyed that?

EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, that's a pretty convincing win. Obviously starting the tournament as well as we did in the first two games, not easy games, but I thought the guys played really well.

Today coming into it, you'd expect a really tough test, and we always do when we play against Australia. I thought we bowled, again, brilliantly and fielded brilliantly and put Australia under pressure, created opportunities earlier probably than we have done in the past. But it just goes to show how well that we have bowled and adapted to conditions.

Even not letting them get away to a score that might have been a bit more of a tricky chase say 140 or 150, I thought the bowlers did a great job.

Q. Has Jos ever hit the ball more sweetly than that?

EOIN MORGAN: There's actually a game that we were talking about while he was going bananas out there back in 2016 where he scored I think it was a 43 or 46, scored a hundred against Pakistan here in a 50-over game where very similarly he just seemed to hit the middle of the bat over and over again. He's obviously one of the best players in the world, and when he comes off like today, it's very difficult to stop him.

Q. Three wins, all chasing. Would you like to win a game batting first?

EOIN MORGAN: I think we're going to have to throughout the tournament. We've spoken about it, what might change, if anything. The thing that I liked about the way that we played today was conditions didn't change, dew didn't come in. We continued to try and play our way and not try and pace our run unless we get pegged back, still try and come hard, and guys did that.

Q. You've made it look easy. Does this England side have anyone to fear?

EOIN MORGAN: Here I think every game that we go into we pay every opposition the amount of respect that they deserve regardless of the name of the country on their shirt. I think that's why we can perform probably more consistent than we have done in the past.

I think sort of moving forward, it's always a matter of looking at ourselves and testing ourselves to try and continue to get better as opposed to looking at opposition.

Q. Just on yourself, you've only had to face seven bowlers all tournament. Do you think that's a measure of how good your captaincy has been in the field?

EOIN MORGAN: Obviously captaincy is only reflected on performance of the players within the side. We've had a really good run of it so far.

I think the whole of our top seven, eight guys we will need at some stage. We go to Sharjah in two days' time and then again I think it's five days' time on Saturday, which we'll probably be taken more out of our comfort zone than we have been both here and Abu Dhabi.

Again, another challenge that we're looking forward to.

Q. Is the rotation on your mind over the next two games?

EOIN MORGAN: No.

Q. What about the decision on not using Moeen with the ball today? Any thoughts on that?

EOIN MORGAN: Yeah. It's just a reflection on my captaincy. The matchups at the time didn't suit. They do suit for some of the Australian players, but they were already dismissed, and I thought that worked really well. Moeen is quite a relaxed guy and knows the role that he plays both before the game and during the game. That's always communicated across all of the bowling unit. We try and adapt and talk about what might work on the wicket against different players, and today unfortunately he wasn't needed.

Q. Even though you play Australia quite a lot, I don't imagine you get those kind of results very often against them. When you're out there in the middle and it's all going so well, can you stop and enjoy it at all? Can you kind of think about how much fun you're having?

EOIN MORGAN: Oh, I think as hard as I try, I struggle to, just knowing that you're playing against such a strong side, and they bat really deeply. When Finchy bats with the guys down the order, there's always that element of you know how much he can hurt you if he gets going and the difference of one over can be the difference in a game.

I thoroughly enjoyed the chase, and I'm enjoying myself now, but at the time I'm trying to maneuver things that restricts the total that we're chasing to the minimum.

Q. Just on Jos quickly, down the years people have called him a freak and genius and all these things. We've just seen a fierce performance. Is he taking the game to a new level do you think? Do you think that he's showing us things that even surprise you?

EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, absolutely. I think he's certainly one of our players -- there are a few of them, that are at the forefront of change in the game. Like he's one of the best players in the game but yet he's still trying to improve his game and get better against every single bowler that he faces. It's not just targeting bowlers that might suit him, it's every bowler. When you've got guys that are at the forefront of change within the game and like positive change, taking-the-game-forward type stuff, it says a lot about the guy.

Q. Given the way you started the tournament, have you reassessed your opinion about being second favourites, or do you still think that's the case?

EOIN MORGAN: I still think that's the case. Obviously chasing in all three games has its advantages. I think the way that the bowlers have bowled has been outstanding. The favourites in the tournament have only played one game. You can't just judge one team on one particular game. They probably have a lot more to show as conditions probably get tougher.

Q. Could you just speak please about Chris Woakes's spell with the new ball and his performances across the tournament?

EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, Woakesy has been excellent. I think over the years his strengths have been epitomized tonight. He's one of the best new ball bowlers in white ball cricket in the world. He's accurate. His pace is up. He's very confident in his all-around skills. It's not just about hitting a line and length or trying to get the ball to move.

In our first game that we played here he bowled a beautiful slower ball to dismiss Evin Lewis. The growth within his game is huge even though he's been right on top of it over the last four or five years.

Q. Did you get flashbacks at all to the 2019 World Cup semifinal, the way that game started, especially Chris Woakes doing the job early and then even with Jason and Jos doing the job with the bat so aggressively?

EOIN MORGAN: Not really. Just different challenges. I think our record at Edgbaston is incredible and had been in the lead-in to that World Cup for the last four years. We take a lot of confidence playing at that venue and on that wicket. Obviously a different challenge here against a side who's trying to adapt as hard as we are to conditions.

Just a different feeling with the two different games.

Q. Most matches have been low-scoring, around like 130s, 140s. You have a better idea about the pitch; do you foresee some more runs being scored, especially when we are going to the semifinals and finals, maybe 170, 180? Do you see that?

EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, I think that's a good question. I think with the semifinals and finals being in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and then Dubai, you'd probably foresee the average scores being probably around par, so between 160 and 170, maybe a little bit higher depending if the dew comes in. But as far as Sharjah goes, we haven't seen a really flat wicket at Sharjah. So I think it'll just continue to be challenging.

Q. From here to Sharjah, I know it's early, but how much more confident are you for that venue especially, the way your spinners are bowling?

EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, I actually don't think that you just have to have good spinners to do well at Sharjah. I think you need to have good seamers, as well. During the IPL we sort of did both. We had two really good spinners but also we had good quicks in amongst it, and the wickets that we did play on had variable bounce that actually favoured the seamers a little bit more.

Within our England squad, we do have options that we will look to use in trying to adapt both against Sri Lanka and South Africa.

Q. There was a bit of a suggestion tonight that a bit of a limiting factor for Australia might be that they haven't played a whole bunch of T20 cricket together even though they're made up of individually talented players. To think about your own team, is the familiarity with roles coming into a tournament, is that particularly important?

EOIN MORGAN: I think roles in any side is very important. I think the only time that we've had a full strength T20 side over the last two and a half years was in March in India for five games. Apart from that, we haven't had a full-strength squad out.