Eoin Morgan assessed England’s game against New Zealand in the first match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. England won the World Cup for the first time under Eoin Morgan in 2019, after beating New Zealand in the final.
New Zealand and England locked horns on 5 October in the first match of the tournament. New Zealand defeated England by nine wickets as the English bowlers failed to defend their target. Eoin Morgan believes that this one loss will not be a setback for the team and they will move ahead with a positive mindset in the championship.
Eoin Morgan on England’s defeat against New Zealand
“I don’t think anyone could have foreseen ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 opener playing out quite like that. New Zealand had an incredible day and for England, it was a crushing defeat. Even if they had scored 30 more runs to get up to a par score, I don’t think they bowled well enough to defend it, which makes it harder to take”, said Eoin Morgan.
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“In many ways, New Zealand didn’t get them out, they got themselves out. But credit has to go to Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra played. Conway put England under pressure from the very first ball and for Ravindra to play like that on his World Cup debut was exceptional. He was pure class”, added Eoin Morgan.
“From an English perspective, we have come to have a level of expectation in Jos Buttler’s team that regardless of the surface, he wants them to take an aggressive approach. We didn’t see that in a strong enough way and what this defeat does, in dramatic fashion, is emphasise the way to play throughout this World Cup. Their strongest suit going forward is to be more aggressive and I think that will be Jos’ message – we need to go harder”, he said.
“One thing is for sure, one defeat will not derail their campaign. Eight of this squad were there in 2019, when we lost three group stage matches on the way to lifting the trophy, and they will definitely lean on that experience. There is no side that goes from start to finish at a World Cup without experiencing some sort of adversity, whether it’s losing games or having hiccups within games themselves. This will be no different”, Morgan concluded.
