For the second time in five editions that England have hosted the World Cup, the home team has made the final. Living up to pre-tournament predictions, Eoin Morgan and his merry band of boys have brought themselves on the cusp of history.
Ahead of their summit clash against New Zealand, Morgan said the final is a culmination of hard work and dedication. Excerpts from the press conference.
On what the final game means to him and to English cricket: It means a huge amount to me and everybody in the changing room. It's a culmination of four years of hard work, dedication, a lot of planning and it presents a huge opportunity to go on and try and win a World Cup. I think for everybody around the country, the support we've had throughout has been unquestionable and that's -- as a team, that is, you know, it makes you feel extremely lucky to be part of a team that has that sort of support.
On what does he do to stay undistracted: I think -- well, I certainly feel pretty relaxed. It is nice to be home. I'm also very excited about tomorrow (Sunday). We're going to enjoy the game regardless. We're going to try and take in as much as we can, it's a World Cup final, and we're not going to shy away from that. As long as anything doesn't affect performance, we're going to try and take it in.
On his final words to the players before stepping out: You never know what you are going to say until the morning of the game. You have to go in and see what the mood is like in the camp. If it's down, you need to pick it up. If it is too high, you need to bring it down. The majority of the times, over the last three or four games, it's been right on point, I haven't had a lot to do.
On if they need to play as well as they did against Australia: I think we will need to, yeah. New Zealand are an extremely tough side, with a lot of experience, a lot of skill. They were the best side in the group stage, and they improved, very similar to us, from the group stage to the semifinal performance. So, we are striving to improve on our performance. No doubt they will.
On playing knockout cricket since the game against India: I think it has helped us because it has lent itself to actually being more positive and aggressive and a bit smarter about how we play and it's sort of been the last-chance saloon since Durham, which has been nice in a way.
