Eoin Morgan has insisted he has “no regrets” over England’s World Cup failure and added that he and his team-mates should shoulder the responsibility for their embarrassing early exit rather than Peter Moores, the embattled head coach.
Morgan stressed that “the hunger is still there” for him to retain the England captaincy after his side only escaped the ignominy of their worst performance at a World Cup with a rain-affected win over Afghanistan in Sydney this morning.
The 28-year-old is only too aware that the decision is out of his hands. Paul Downton, the ECB managing director, has confirmed that a “major review” will be launched into the the team’s failings with pressure building on Moores since Monday’s embarrassing defeat by Bangladesh, which ensured that England would not reach the knockout stages.
“We’ve given it everything and certainly I have,” Morgan said. “There are no regrets, absolutely not.”
Morgan and Moores will be asked for their thoughts on what went wrong when the team return home. The England captain believes the head coach should not be the focus of vitriol for the team’s run of two wins from six pool matches that unceremoniously ended their stay in Australia and New Zealand.
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“I certainly think it’s not fair,” Morgan said. “All the responsibility should fall on the players; it’s our responsibility to perform as a side. Particularly when we’ve performed so badly.”
“If there were little things, and we just weren’t able to get over the line, games where we competed and little parts of our game weren’t right, you could look elsewhere. But it’s important that we realise as a side where the responsibility lies and where we want to be and how we want to get there.”
Morgan has admitted that leading England since he was appointed as one-day international captain in place of Alastair Cook, the Test captain, at the end of last year has been “challenging”.
“My experiences before [the World Cup] have been a little bit better than this tournament has gone, but looking forward down the line it’s out of my hands,” Morgan said.
Morgan felt that his side had failed at the basics, such as building an innings and stringing pressure together with the ball, and has called for a “change in direction” in how one-day cricket is viewed in England.
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“I believe Test match cricket should be a priority but certainly things have to change because for a period of time now we haven’t had a great deal of success at World Cups,” he added.
“Guys need to see it as a thing to strive for as opposed to playing Test match cricket at home.”
Morgan felt central contracts had improved England as a Test-playing nation and said the “ripple effect” of similar contracts in limited-overs cricket might have a similar impact.
Morgan has experience of the Indian Premier League and said a similarly high-tempo, high-profile limited-overs competition in England could only be beneficial.
“I’m a huge fan of the IPL and the Big Bash [the Australian T20 competition] and one thing it certainly does do is that it puts you under a different type of pressure, you’re in front of huge crowds and playing against international-standard bowling.”
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Ian Bell’s half-century helped England comfortably reach their victory target of 101 in a rain-affected finale in Sydney. Chris Jordan, who took two wickets for 13 runs, was the best of the bowlers.