Disappointing show: Morgan

It was a mixed day for Eoin Morgan as England’s permanent ODI captain. While the left-hander produced his seventh career century to save his team the batting blushes, he couldn’t prevent Australia from emerging a three-wicket winner in the tri-series opener on Friday.

 “Overall, really disappointed,” said Morgan after the match. “We came into the game with a lot of good preparation under our belt and then again within this side, we would have had a lot of expectations on ourselves. So there are a lot of disappointed guys in the change room. But we are going to have to dust ourselves off and come back in four days. There are certain positives we can take from the game but ultimately being four down so early cost us,” he analysed.

While Morgan agreed that the pitch was on the slower side, he felt the English batsmen could have adapted to the conditions. “They bowled well up front but nothing that we shouldn’t be capable of dealing with. I think the wicket was a little bit stoppy but again nothing we can’t deal with or adapt to. We simply weren’t good enough to adapt to the wicket and play accordingly,” he explained.

Man of the match Mitchell Starc, whose four-wicket haul hurt England badly, tried to score a few psychological points over the old enemy. “Hopefully, we have reopened a few scars tonight,” said the paceman, referring to the 5-0 Ashes whitewash and a 4-1 drubbing when England travelled Down Under. “They are going to be out here for a few months now with this tri-series and the World Cup.


There is no better way to kick off our campaign than getting one above them tonight. We played really well with bat and ball and in the field as well. Great intensity from all the boys and I think the only way to go is try and improve that now,” he remarked.

Mitchell Johnson had left England batsmen scarred in the last summer but in his absence, Starc did a pretty good job of it. “Yeah, I guess so,” he answered in jest when told another Mitchell to terrorise England. “It was nice to do a role for the team tonight but more importantly Australia got the win, so it was a great result,” he explained.