Eoin Morgan believes there is far more resting on Friday’s must-win game against India at the Waca Ground than a place in the Tri-Series final, with England’s one-day captain insisting victory will be crucial to build momentum and confidence ahead of the World Cup.
England face a shoot-out with India in Perth for the chance to meet Australia back at the same venue on Sunday and, with less than two weeks before Morgan’s team open their World Cup campaign against the Australians in Melbourne, Morgan believes the time is right to start winning crunch games.
England arrived in Australia on the back of a 5-2 series loss in Sri Lanka before Christmas, the team’s fourth ODI series defeat in five, and it was a sequence that cost Alastair Cook his job as one-day captain. This Tri-Series, against the top-two ranked teams in the world, is a stern test of England’s credentials under Morgan’s fledgling leadership. However, they can take belief from the nine-wicket win they managed against India in Brisbane last week.
“I think it is important to win this game given the lack of success we’ve had before this tour,” said Morgan. “We’ve built a confidence in our preparation, in the game in Brisbane and in performances leading into the start of this series. So as momentum and confidence goes I think it’s quite a big game.
“It’s vitally important we adapt to conditions tomorrow. Similar to Brissie [Brisbane], it’s going to be a little bit different to everywhere we do play on this tour. But the guys are really looking forward to it. It’s a place where you come and play and really look forward to it – one of those iconic grounds where you want to do well.
“The opportunity to play in a final against Australia on Sunday is huge. But we’ll have to play some high-quality cricket to get past India first.”
India, into their third month of a tour which saw them play four Tests against Australia before the Tri-Series, appeared jaded in Brisbane. Morgan, though, is not buying into that theory. “I don’t sense that at all,” he said. “I think India are a very dangerous side. Right down their line-up they do have match winners, experience and they’ve some young, exciting players. So we won’t take them for granted.”
England’s XI appears settled now. But Morgan hinted bad weather in Perth may prompt changes. He said: “There was a huge storm here last night and if it comes in again tonight and it rains a bit tomorrow there could be changes within the side.”
Yet whoever takes the field on Friday, and surely only spinner James Tredwell coming in for Chris Woakes is the only possibility, England will be confident of beating India again after the comprehensive win in Brisbane. That match saw Steven Finn take five wickets and Ian Bell warm-up for his brilliant century against Australia in Hobart last Friday with an unbeaten 88 to guide his side home at the Gabba.
“The guys are in high spirits,” said Morgan. “Yes, we did take a lot of confidence from that game in Brisbane and I think that performance has been a long time coming. We’ve put in a lot of work over the last year or so with very little reward.
“So an individual performance like Steven put in was brilliant, since then Ian Bell has put in a fantastic performance so things are starting to come together and I think a win tomorrow would give us huge confidence and build momentum for us.”
