ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

November 6, 2021

Eoin Morgan

Sharjah Stadium

England

Post Match Media Conference

South Africa 189/2 (20) - England 179/8 (20)

Q. What can you tell us about Jason Roy's injury?

EOIN MORGAN: That it's his calf. It obviously didn't look great. And we'll wait until tomorrow to see what his movement is like. Probably send him for a scan and then go from there. Apart from that, can't tell you much.

Q. Do you feel that his tournament is over or is it too early to say that?

EOIN MORGAN: It's difficult to assume. Obviously we're all hopeful that he comes through in some manner or there's some remedy to get him through one, if not two games. But we need to do what's best for Jason ultimately and then the team.

Q. Have you had a chance to think about how the team might be reconfigured if he can't make it?

EOIN MORGAN: No, I haven't. That's the easiest way to put it, I haven't, sorry.

Q. Can you speak about what a blow that might be if it were to be the end for Jason? We've seen in 2019, what an integral part of the team he is. How important is he to you?

EOIN MORGAN: He's unbelievably important. He's a guy that epitomises everything that we are about in the changing room and the way that we play. You see how commanding he is at the top of the order, not only in T20 cricket but 50-over cricket as well. Obviously two different partners in the two formats. But yeah, he's as close as we get to surmising how the changing room should play.

Q. In terms of the game, how do you view it? Obviously you got close but from the outside it probably looked like you weren't quite at your best with the ball or with the bat. How are you viewing it?

EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, I think that's fair. We are not going to be at our best every game but we do need to find ways to win. I think in the field, actually, we weren't as intense as we have been in previous games. Just small things that we didn't do as neatly or as cleanly as we would have liked. I thought with the ball, probably kept them to a reasonable score in and around par.

Obviously one of your premium batsmen goes down, that does occur to you, particularly given the form that he is in. On the other hand, you have guys that have not batted a lot in the tournament, came in, struck the ball really well, which is a great sign obviously for the semifinal.

Q. Do you feel like you've had a bit of a battle over these couple of games, like you might be more battle hardened for the rest of the tournament?

EOIN MORGAN: I'd probably say it's been a while. Like you go through the names that either aren't here through injury or other reasons, so you go through Arthur, Stokes, Sam Curran, Ben, Tymal and now possibly Jason. You look back at the times that you have really explored and tried to build a bigger squad, and I'm sitting here thankful that we have actually done that because we are going need those guys possibly in the next game or the final.

Q. You mentioned losing Ben. That would derail many sides. Is there something to maybe just take heart from how you performed throughout the group rather than ran dwell on tonight?

EOIN MORGAN: The guys have unbelievable resilience and belief and we have shown that in bilateral series. Ben missed our tour of Australia in 2018 where we won 4-1. Finding a way without him, Sam Curran wasn't around them. Jofra wasn't around then.

So we had quite a big pool of players to choose from but obviously you lose a little bit of experience when you lose guys like that.

Q. Are you grateful for the practise of having a big target to chase?

EOIN MORGAN: I think just having a really good wicket where you can like expand your game as a batter and to put our bowlers under more pressure than they have been on is brilliant because we haven't had that opportunity throughout the tournament.

Again, going in, it's obviously very difficult to get through to the latter stages of a tournament, but I believe that once you do get through, it's all about expressing yourself and trying to get the best out of yourself. So you need that exercise to go through, and again, emphasising the guys who have not batted, came out and played the way we wanted them to play later in the tournament. So it was impressive, yeah.

Q. Can you describe the atmosphere in the dressing room?

EOIN MORGAN: Difficult to describe. Like we are gutted for Jas, but also sort of half-hoping that he's okay. I mean, for anybody to miss the latter stages of a tournament, particularly wits been two guys and two games, that does hurt the mood. The guys care a lot, particularly in -- for what they put into what goes on on the field, a huge amount. So yes, it's difficult to describe. I don't have an adjective.

Q. So the emotion is empathy and sympathy?

EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, that's probably the best way to describe it.

Q. You said earlier in the tournament that you were not able to watch other games.

EOIN MORGAN: Yeah.

Q. Would you be able to watch the key games in the other group and the teams you're going to be playing tomorrow?

EOIN MORGAN: Not really. So as prep for every game, I'll go through strengths and weaknesses of oppositions, I'll watch relevant games. So I haven't watched a lot from the other group. So I will do over the next coming days. Let somebody else worry about it.

Q. In terms of the batting order today, you obviously shuffled up Moeen. What was the thinking there?

EOIN MORGAN: Quite a clear message came off when Jason went down. We have always explored where Moeen's best position is to bat. We have also talked about emphasising a little bit on the power play in different condition here because it can often be best time to bat. Josh sent a message off saying that Moeen could be a good option, possibly the last over the power play but also to kick on past that, and we wanted to continue, right, left hand as we went and then we just stuck with Dawid where he was and then Liam, considering he had not batted a lot in the tournament.

Q. And if Jason is out, is bringing another kind of bowling option in his place a possibility or will it be a light flight with a batter coming in?

EOIN MORGAN: I'd say batter. Yeah, I can't imagine bringing in a bowler. We have plenty of bowling on the squad.

Q. We discussed yesterday how you lost your left arm angle by bringing Woody in but you kept your pace. How have you felt your remodelled bowling attack went today?

EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, I thought they went well. Obviously Mark, playing in his first game of the tournament, it's great to get him a runout. Unfortunate that David missed out. He's been in contention pretty much every game, and depending what wicket we have turned up and looked at and assessed, we have made a call accordingly. Close call between those two today but I thought Woody had a really good turnout.

Collectively I actually thought they were good. It's difficult dealing with a short side, and a better wicket to bat on but I thought the guys did reasonably well. Probably weren't at our best but we were okay.

Q. Did you think 189 was kind of an okay score to have conceded?

EOIN MORGAN: Yeah, absolutely. Like I mentioned previously when one of your premium batsmen go down, and you go into the last over needing 14, you're in a pretty strong position. A short side is still one side. There's still certainly belief there.

Q. How do you feel after an end to your unbeaten run, especially when your next game is a semifinal?

EOIN MORGAN: Feel pretty good. Some of the hardest matches of the tournament or tournaments that I've played in the past have been group stage games. It's very difficult to qualify. You look at the table the way it finished, a lot of teams finished having lost only one game and sides going through a net run rate really does show the strength within that particular group.

So very happy that we're through to the semifinal.

Q. How do you keep yourself calm and composed even in the tough situations, like how are you positive always?

EOIN MORGAN: Did he say how am I positive?

I think I'm a very lucky man. I've always had a lot of luck on my side. We have a lot of experience on the field, so it's quite easy to stay calm in different situations with guys who like slowing the game down, taking the moment in, peeling the emotion back and making a logical decision.