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Ishant Sharma, the India fast bowler, has said that his ankle has healed completely and that he no longer needs surgery to fix it

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Nov-2011Ishant Sharma, the India fast bowler, has said that his ankle has healed and that he, in all probability, no longer needs surgery to fix it. Ishant, who played the first Test against the West Indies in Delhi, had sustained a ligament injury to his left ankle during the third Test against England at Edgbaston earlier this year. He was forced to miss the limited-overs part of the England tour and the subsequent one-day series against the same opponents in India, but recovered in time to play against West Indies.”There is no risk about it [ankle],” Ishant told reporters after India’s practice session on Sunday. I’ve been working a lot on my ankle and everything. I am fit now and I am ready to play in Australia, and I don’t think even after the Australia tour I will need surgery.”Zaheer Khan, India’s leading fast bowler, has been out of action since the first Test in England back in June. With offspinner Harbhajan Singh also missing, having been dropped for the first two Tests against West Indies, Ishant has been catapulted into the role of India’s senior strike-bower, a role he said he was happy to fill.”Obviously it’s a great feeling … It’s an honour to lead the Indian attack. Being the senior-most bowler in the team, it’s really great. It’s difficult to express this kind of feeling actually. You are obviously going to miss a bowler like Zak [Zaheer]. But injuries are part and parcel of the game. You have to play the role of the senior when someone is injured. Whoever you have in the team, you need to go ahead and give your best shot.”Given India’s recent spate of injuries, the selectors have taken the opportunity to blood a few new players during the recently completed one-day series against England and the first Test against West Indies. Among the new faces in the ODIs were Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron, while Yadav played in the Test win over West Indies in Delhi. Both bowlers impressed with their pace and Ishant said it was a “great feeling” to be part of an attack that can bowl quick.”Earlier, everyone was saying that India can’t produce fast bowlers. Now all the three fast bowlers are consistently clocking 90 miles per hour. Obviously it’s a great feeling for any fast bowler in the team.”When he was asked why India’s bowlers failed to get reverse-swing at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Ishant it was difficult to do so on the first day when the track was fresh. “The only thing you can do is to be consistent and bowl in the right areas. As the day progresses, you get reverse-swing. Reverse-swing happens only on second or third day of a Test match.”The Australia tour is after this series. We will get two practice matches there to get accustomed to the conditions. In India, the wickets are like this only. We can’t complain about this.”

Kent captain Rob Key fell two runs short of a century as the County
Championship Division Two match against Leicestershire ended in a draw at Grace
Road

05-Aug-2011
Scorecard
Kent captain Rob Key fell two runs short of a century as the County
Championship Division Two match against Leicestershire ended in a draw at Grace
Road.Set a target of 332 Kent looked to be on course for victory when they cruised
to 184 for 2. But they then lost three wickets for two runs in five balls, with Key bowled
for 98 by Wayne White.The paceman then dismissed Geraint Jones with his next delivery and when Darren
Stevens was out to a catch in the deep Leicestershire’s own chances of winning
looked to have been boosted. But the two teams somewhat surprisingly shook hands on a draw with eight overs remaining with Kent, on 255 for 6, still needing another 77 runs.Leicestershire resumed the final day on 227 for 5, leading by 265 and
looking for quick runs in order to set Kent a target. Tom New and Shiv Thakor took their sixth-wicket stand to 100 in 29 overs before 17-year-old Thakor was caught at gully off Azhar Mahmood for 34.New followed having made 76 off 101 balls with 10 boundaries. He was trapped
lbw by the same bowler with a delivery that kept low. Mahmood also claimed the wickets of Jigar Naik and Claude Henderson and Leicestershire declared on 289 for 9, leaving Kent 332 to win in 75 overs. Mahmood finished with 4 for 42.Although Kent lost opener Joe Denly who was bowled by a fine delivery from Alex
Wyatt with the total on 32, the visitors made good progress with Key playing a
captain’s role.He looked assured and confident, using the sweep shot to great effect against
Leicestershire’s spinners. The Kent captain reached his 50 off 74 balls with six boundaries plus a six off Henderson and shared a stand of 82 in 20 overs with Sam Northeast.But Northeast was out with the total on 113, lbw to Naik, leaving Martin van
Jaarsveld to join Key in another useful partnership for the third wicket. Their stand put on 71 in 19 overs but van Jaarsveld’s dismissal by Henderson triggered the loss of three quick wickets in five deliveries.Key could hardly believe it when he was bowled off stump by White as he tried
to work the ball away on leg side, having made 98 off 153 balls with 12 fours
and a six.Mahmood hit an unbeaten 46 but in the end the teams settled on a draw with
neither side gaining an edge ahead of once again facing each other in a T20
quarter-final at Grace Road tomorrow.

Spinners Monty Panesar and Michael Yardy claimed five wickets between them as Sussex Sharks defeated Gloucestershire Gladiators by seven wickets

05-Jun-2011
ScorecardSpinners Monty Panesar and Michael Yardy claimed five wickets between them as Sussex Sharks defeated Gloucestershire Gladiators by seven wickets in a Friends Life t20 game at Bristol.In a match reduced to 17 overs per side by rain, the Gladiators could only manage 97 for 9 as Panesar (3 for 14) and Yardy (2 for 22) did much of the damage. Lou Vincent (31 not out) and Murray Goodwin (27) then led the Sharks to victory with 15 balls to spare, making it two wins out of two for the south coast county.The Gladiators, though, have lost three times in as many games. The sides had been set to start on time at 2.30pm but further rain swept across the County Ground and play was delayed by 90 minutes.The Gladiators lost skipper Alex Gidman to the last ball of Luke Wright’s opening over when he was superbly caught off a skied drive by Rava Naved-ul-Hasan at wide mid-on. Hamish Marshall and Chris Taylor put on 32 for the second wicket – the biggest stand of the innings – before Marshall fell lbw to Yardy for 16.Taylor was the next to go, trapped lbw when sweeping at Panesar for 22, and no other Gloucestershire batsman could break the stranglehold exerted by the two Sussex spinners. Kane Williamson was bowled around his legs by Panesar, Will Gidman was taken on the midwicket boundary off Yardy and Panesar had Ed Young lbw.Kevin O’Brien struck Wayne Parnell for six over midwicket, but the South African got revenge next ball when Yardy held a skied drive at extra cover. A fine all-round bowling performance from Sussex was completed by Naved-ul-Hasan, who bowled Richard Coughtrie in the 15th over and had Ian Saxelby leg before in the last one.Sussex lost a wicket in the third over of their innings when Chris Nash miscued a pull off Jon Lewis to Saxelby at mid-on. It became 31 for 2 in the fifth over when Muttiah Muralitharan had Wright lbw to claim his first wicket for the Gladiators.But Sussex’s victory never looked seriously in doubt and Murray Goodwin hit 27 from 20 deliveries before he was caught by O’Brien on the midwicket boundary from Williamson’s first ball. Vincent and Yardy took Sussex to victory with an unbroken stand of 37, despite some tidy spin bowling from Muralitharan and Williamson.Vincent provided the finishing touches by reverse-sweeping Williamson for a boundary and then cutting the next ball for three to third man.

Shubman Gill has come in for sharp scrutiny following poor returns at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia

Shashank Kishore14-Jan-2025Shubman Gill has confirmed his availability for Punjab for their sixth-round Ranji Trophy fixture against Karnataka at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru starting January 23. The squad hasn’t been announced yet.Gill’s possible return to the Punjab fold gives him an opportunity to work with Wasim Jaffer, the highest run-getter in Ranji history who is now the Punjab coach. It comes at a time when his poor returns outside Asia – he averages 17.64 in 18 innings since June 2021 – have come in for sharp scrutiny, especially with India slated to tour England for five Tests in the summer.His return will shore up a squad that will be without senior players Abhishek Sharma and Arshdeep Singh, who have both been picked in India’s T20I squad for the five-match series against England starting January 22 in Kolkata.Gill’s last Ranji Trophy appearance for Punjab came in 2022, when he played against Madhya Pradesh in the quarter-finals in Alur. His return coincides with the Indian team management having laid down strict protocols for national players in the wake of India’s 3-1 Test series loss in Australia.1:47

Pujara: Gill’s hard hands and lack of footwork causing trouble in Australia

Head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar have spoken of the need for top players to make themselves available to play for their respective state teams when free of international commitments.Gill was among those who endured a disappointing run in Australia, where he managed a highest of 31 in five innings following a return from a finger injury that kept him out of the series opener in Perth. He averaged 18.60 for the series. He was also left out of India’s XI for the Boxing Day Test, with the team management slotting in KL Rahul at No. 3 after Rohit Sharma reverted to his opening position having initially started the series, in the second Test, in the middle order.At the time, though, the team management said that Gill hadn’t been dropped and was merely “unfortunate” to miss out owing to team combination, as India went in with two spin-bowling allrounders in Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar.Punjab’s hopes of qualifying for the Ranji Trophy playoffs hangs by a thread; they are currently fifth in Group A with a solitary win in five games.

Rohit Sharma feels India were 20-30 runs short with the bat and one more early wicket away from making a game of it in Ahmedabad

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Nov-20231:37

‘Rohit and Kohli stood up for India in every moment’

While India captain Rohit Sharma is really proud of his team for their spectacular run to the ODI World Cup final, he admitted they were just “not good enough” on the big day to get past serial-winners Australia in Ahmedabad. For starters, about 20-30 more runs while batting, with a bigger partnership between half-centurions KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, he said, would have helped.”Honestly, the result hasn’t gone our way,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony. “And we know that we were not good enough today. But I’m really proud of the team, how we played from game one. It wasn’t our day, we tried everything we could from our side, but it wasn’t supposed to be.”Honestly, 20-30 [runs] more would’ve been good. We spoke around 25-30 overs when KL and Virat were batting. I thought when they were batting they were stitching a good partnership there and then we just needed to bat as long as possible. We were looking at 270-280 at that point, but then we kept losing wickets. We couldn’t stitch a big partnership there, and that’s exactly what Australia did to win the game. They stitched a big partnership after three [early] wickets.”Related

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Despite scoring quickly in the first powerplay, thanks largely to Rohit himself, and being 81 for 3 in the 11th over, India slowed down considerably in the middle overs, managing just four fours from overs 11 to 50 and not a single six. Rahul and Kohli were rebuilding after the early losses, putting together 67 off 108 before Pat Cummins dismissed Kohli. India would go on to lose their last five wickets for just 37 runs. The total of 240 was India’s second-lowest in this World Cup batting first, and came after they had amassed scores of 397, 410, 326 and 357 batting first in their previous four games.Australia got off to a jittery start in swinging conditions under lights, losing David Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Steven Smith in the first seven overs to be 47 for 3. But once the balls lost some of their shine, they skidded nicely on to the bat and Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne avoided any further hiccup with a 192-run stand dominated by Head.”When you have 240 on the board, you want to take wickets as early as possible, and we did that,” Rohit said. “But then credit to Head and Marnus, they stitched a big partnership and put us completely out of the game. But again, we tried everything we could but I thought the wicket got slightly better to bat on under the lights.”We knew under the lights it would be slightly better [to bat on]. I don’t want to give that as an excuse, we didn’t bat well enough to put enough runs on the board. And then upfront we got those three wickets and we thought another wicket there we can open up the game. But, again, credit to those two guys in the middle for stitching that big partnership.”

New-ball duo help Yorkshire make most of only 42 overs possible on rainy day at Headingley

ECB Reporters Network19-Jul-2023New-ball duo Matthew Fisher and Ben Coad helped Yorkshire make the absolute most of only 42 overs of play possible on a rainy day one at Headingley as they restricted promotion-chasing Sussex to 120 for 6.Sussex, third in Division Two with eight draws and a win, are one of only two unbeaten sides in either division of the LV= Insurance County Championship this season – Glamorgan the other.But they were put under intense early pressure after surprisingly electing to bat first under a cloudy sky and on a green-tinged pitch.Seamers Fisher and Coad shone with 4 for 53 from 13 overs and 2 for 10 from 12 respectively during a day including a pair of two-hour plus rain delays.After electing to bat, Sussex captain Tom Alsop top-scored with 35, while 54 overs were not bowled.One of Yorkshire’s major issues over the past season-and-a-half of four-day cricket – they were relegated last September – has been the lack of matches Coad and Fisher have played. With them fit and firing, the county look a completely different proposition.Yorkshire have only won twice since the start of 2022, and this is only Coad’s 11th Championship appearance and Fisher’s ninth in that time. They have only played together on six occasions in that period but complement each other superbly.While Coad is not blessed with the pace that Fisher has, he will find any ounce of help off the pitch or through the air to trouble batters – and that’s exactly what they did.An all-Tom opening partnership of Clark and Haines was removed as Sussex slipped to 18 for 3 inside six overs, including Fisher’s wickets with successive deliveries.Coad made the initial breakthrough by getting Clark caught at second slip by Adam Lyth, leaving the score at 6 for 1 in the third over.England fringe quick Fisher then had the other left-handed opener Haines caught behind by Jonny Tattersall before bowling James Coles first ball. He played expansively at an in-ducker, leaving the Hove county 18 for 3 in the sixth over.A two-and-a-quarter-hour rain delay, including lunch, then came from 11.55am before Coad and Fisher struck once more apiece prior to the rain returning at 3.20pm, resulting in another two-and-a-half-hour break.Coad forced Oli Carter to inside-edge a drive onto his stumps before Danial Ibrahim feathered a forward defensive shot against Fisher behind as the score fell to 57 for 5 in the 25th over.Sussex captain Alsop batted with a decent slice of fortune in his 96-ball 35, which came to an end late in the day when he edged Fisher shoulder-high to Ryan Rickelton at third slip.The first five of the left-hander’s six boundaries were scored behind the wicket, including his first which was inside-edged just past his off-stump off Fisher.Sussex were at least boosted late in the day by Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Australian overseas seamer Nathan McAndrew, who shared an unbroken 44 for the seventh wicket.Hudson-Prentice looked the most assured Sussex batter on show with 29 not out and McAndrew was strong on the pull and cut in hitting six boundaries in an unbeaten 25.

Pakistan’s captain was thrilled by the crowd that showed up at the National Stadium to watch the final day unfold

Danyal Rasool16-Mar-2022Babar Azam has acknowledged that Pakistan’s pragmatic approach to the final day in Karachi had been shaped by the magnitude of the target Australia had set them. When the fifth day began, Pakistan needed to survive 90 overs, or, more improbably, score a further 334 runs to gun down the fourth-innings target of 506.But with the game stretching into the final hour and Babar and Mohammad Rizwan looking fairly comfortable having put on 115 for the fifth wicket, the prospect of a remarkable late dash to the target was beginning to take shape. But Babar and Rizwan appeared to resist the temptation, and while Babar explained that the chase was never quite on, it didn’t stop him from taking great pleasure in his knock.Related

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“This innings holds a lot of meaning for me, because the team needed it,” he said. “We were realistic about the chase. We wanted to bat normally till tea, and then if we found ourselves in a situation where we could go for the chase, we were good. But we lost wickets, unfortunately, so we didn’t really think of the chase. We needed to save the game. If I’d stayed for longer we might have tried to chase it.”When Babar and Faheem Ashraf fell off successive balls, any ideas about a chase were immediately killed off, with Pakistan facing a final-hour battle to stave off defeat. “Rizwan and I were discussing what the situation demanded because the wicket wasn’t easy for the new batter,” Babar said. “The spinners were getting help. I had belief the way Sajid [Khan] and Nauman [Ali] batted, so I had trust in them to save the game for us.”‘Abdullah Shafique was outstanding in the way he played the new and old ball and the patience he showed’ – Babar Azam•PCB

The pitches for the series have been a perpetual point of focus, with further scrutiny on the Karachi strip after the one in Rawalpindi was rated “below average” after a dull draw that saw just 14 wickets fall over five days. There was more assistance for the bowlers in Karachi, though it was reverse-swing that provided the most salient threat rather than the cracks in the pitch assisting spin. Babar said the conditions were the same for both sides, and thought the pitch had plenty to offer the bowlers.”You get reverse for the fast bowlers here; they found it and so did we. The spinners found turn, too. I don’t think there was a difference in the reverse-swing they got in both innings. They got plenty here, too. There were a lot of soft dismissals in the first innings which can make you think it was reversing a lot. It was happening in the second innings too, but our batters were at their best. You get reverse-swing here in first-class cricket too, so they have an idea how to tackle it. When you’re playing against one of the best teams, they’ll give you a tough time.”Babar revealed how he had motivated his side after a dispiriting third day, which saw Pakistan bowled out for 148 in 53 overs, giving Australia a 408-run lead. “You get motivation from your teammates,” he said. “In the first innings, we didn’t bat like we wanted but in the second innings, we had belief that we could save the game. We told the boys ‘What’s gone is gone and we have to focus on the present.’ The veteran players showed their experience. We told each other that ups and downs happen in Tests and to play session by session. I tried to give them confidence. Abdullah Shafique was outstanding in the way he played the new and old ball and the patience he showed.”This tour’s hype isn’t just about what happens on the field, but also what surrounds it. With Australia in Pakistan for the first time since 1998, a large, frenzied crowd came out to watch Pakistan pursue history, either by chasing down the target or surviving more overs to save a Test than any side since 1939. It embellished an already dramatic day, and its value wasn’t lost on the Pakistan captain.”When you play in front of your crowd and they support you, that feeling is so good I can’t explain it,” he said. “When the whole stadium backs you, it’s brilliant. We’re so happy that cricket is back, and we’re playing against such a big team here.”

England are staring at an 11th defeat in 12 Tests Down Under

Alan Gardner19-Dec-2021Australia maintained their vice-like grip on the second Test, ripping out four England wickets before the close of day four at Adelaide Oval. Half-centuries from Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne had enabled the home side to declare their second innings 467 runs ahead, and with more than four sessions still to play – and although England fought to see out the night under lights, the dismissal of Joe Root from what became the final ball of the day was a hammer blow to their hopes of salvaging something from the game.Already 1-0 up in the series and sitting on a 282-run lead overnight, the contest was set up for Australia from the outset. England managed to chip away and avoid being completely overrun, but by the time that Steven Smith called his men back to the dressing room just over an hour into the evening session, the scale of their task in attempting to avoid an 11th defeat from 12 in Australia was clear.England’s brittle batting was soon back in the spotlight – and before the floodlights had even started to fire up. Jhye Richardson struck with his sixth ball, Haseeb Hameed propping forward only to see the ball prance and take him on the glove, as England’s opening stand – so far worth 0, 23, 7 and 4 in the series – failed again.Related

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Rory Burns did succeed in carving out some time at the crease, as he and Dawid Malan battled through to tea and beyond during a 44-run partnership. But with the pink ball, glowing in the twilight, fizzing and spitting at the behest of Nathan Lyon, who bowled a relentlessly probing round-the-wicket line to the two left-handers, it seemed only a matter of time before further Australians dividends would be forthcoming.Lyon deserved to make the breakthrough, only for Smith to put down a regulation slip catch with Malan on 19. The reprieve was brief, however, as Michael Neser found some nip back in to beat a tentative defensive push and pin Malan lbw to his very next ball – a dismissal upheld with three reds on review.Burns used the DRS to overturn a caught-behind decision on 30, and had faced 95 balls when he finally succumbed to Richardson, who scrambled the seam to produce a thick edge that was taken low in the cordon. Root and Ben Stokes then battened down the hatches in an attempt to reach the close. They were just four balls away from achieving that goal when Root, having been hit painfully on the box a few overs earlier – the second low blow he had suffered in the day – edged Mitchell Starc behind to spark jubilation among the Australians.Joe Root was struck in the groin shortly before his dismissal•Getty Images

It was not a good day for English dignity. In a hole and facing the prospect of Australia steadily driving home their advantage, the tourists initially took the field without their captain, Root requiring a scan after being hit in what the ECB euphemistically termed “the abdomen” while taking some throwdowns – this time not wearing a box. It all added to the sense that this Ashes tour is becoming yet another cock-up and balls story.A lively start followed, belying the lack of tension in the game. Neser was nearly run out from the first ball of the afternoon, the nightwatchman only just making his ground to beat a direct hit from point after being sent back. He was then bowled in the second over, James Anderson finding some seam movement to beat Neser’s forward defensive and hit the top of middle stump.Two balls later, Stuart Broad found Marcus Harris’ outside edge to dismiss the Australia opener for the fifth time in four Tests – Jos Buttler completing the dismissal with a flying one-handed catch. But the punchline was still to come, as Broad induced a first-ball nick behind from Smith, only for Buttler to send an easier chance clanging to the ground. Broad’s next delivery brought a confident no-look lbw appeal from the bowler, but Rod Tucker remained unmoved – and DRS backed up the decision on umpire’s call.Smith was not able to cash in on his good fortune, gloving a short ball from Ollie Robinson down the leg side – Buttler lurching back into the sublime with a one-handed take – to give Australia’s stand-in captain his first single-figure score in an Ashes Test since the 2017-18 day-nighter at Adelaide.England had taken 3 for 10 from 12 overs and given themselves something to smile about. But a further sign of their parlous position came when Robinson opted to switch to bowling offspin – apparently in a bid to lift the over rate. Root returned to the field shortly after and Australia began to ease back on to the front foot, Head’s counterattacking knock lifting them from 4 for 55 to 4 for 134 at the dinner break.Head added 89 in good time alongside Labuschagne, as Australian thoughts began to turn once again to the possibility of a declaration. Head became a second wicket for Robinson – now back to bowling seam – shortly after bringing up a 49-ball fifty on his home ground, and England soon resorted to bowling Malan’s part-time legspin in tandem with Root, rather than put miles into the legs of their quicks. Malan claimed Labuschagne as his maiden Test victim, but four wickets falling to spin only seemed to underscore England’s errors in selection. And Australia will not worry themselves with that.

Captain, however, was pleased with debutant offspinner Akeal Hosein, who claimed 3 for 26

Mohammad Isam20-Jan-2021West Indies captain Jason Mohammed said that their batsmen need to be more patient in the middle overs. The visitors were bowled out for only 122, which Bangladesh chased down with 16 overs to spare as they won the first ODI in Mirpur by six wickets.West Indies had slumped to 56 for 5 in the 19th over with Shakib Al Hasan, playing his first international game after serving his one-year ban and finishing with 4 for 8 in the match, posing the biggest threat. Mohammed, who was stumped off Shakib, said West Indies need to come up with a better plan, mainly by being patient against the old ball.”We have to give ourselves a little bit more time,” he said. “It is difficult to score in the middle overs with the spinners, so negotiating that part of the innings is going to be crucial for us. Obviously, we need to play that period of bowling a little better. I think we are going to discuss things and see what the best plan is to come up with.”Related

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A 59-run stand between Rovman Powell and Kyle Mayers gave West Indies hope, but once it broke they collapsed again, losing their last five wickets for just seven runs and in the space of 20 balls. Pacers Mustafizur Rahman and Hasan Mahmud, who was making his debut, were among the wickets, while offspinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz bowled tidily as well.”We have to try to put little bit more runs on the board,” Mohammed added. “We are inexperienced in terms of batting, but I think they [the batsmen] are capable of doing the job. It was our first outing. Wicket was a little bit difficult. Hopefully [in the] next game, we can put up a better batting performance.”Mohammed felt that his bowlers did well, particularly Akeal Hosein – who was among six debutants in the match for West Indies and who finished with returns of 3 for 26 from his quota of ten overs.”I think the bowlers put up a good performance. Akeal was a standout on his debut,” he said. “He took three crucial wickets for us. He was economical too. I am very happy with the bowlers today.”Hosein, who was instrumental in the Trinbago Knight Riders’ fourth CPL title last year with ten wickets in seven matches, was pleased with his performance, although he would have preferred to have a bigger total to bowl at.”I was happy with my performance. But having said that, not being able to take my team to victory will always be in the back of your mind,” he said. “It was a good experience. We went out there, gave it our all. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the result. So hopefully we can bounce back strongly in the next game. I think we definitely need to put on a bigger score. We bowled well, so it is just to give the bowlers something to work with. Hopefully that happens in the next match.”

Old Trafford offers ideal preparation for Asian pitches, as England turn to World Cup defence

Andrew Miller10-Sep-2020Eoin Morgan has challenged his world-beating ODI players to adapt their dynamic brand of cricket to the slow, low pitches on which they will be defending their World Cup title in India in 2023, and believes that three matches against Australia at Emirates Old Trafford offer the perfect opportunity to start putting some new plans into action.Traditionally, the surface at Old Trafford has been among the more rapid on the English circuit, offering good carry to the quicks and sharp turn and bounce for the slow bowlers. However, the venue has already hosted six internationals in the summer’s bio-secure circumstances, the majority of them on sluggish surfaces exacerbated by the chilly Manchester weather, and Morgan was both confident on what to expect in the coming days, and grateful for what it could mean for their preparations.”It’s a huge benefit to us playing at Old Trafford,” he said. “Hopefully it will be slow and take a lot of turn. That’s very useful considering that’s both our weakest point, and it’s more than likely what we will play in India in 2023. If we had a choice of grounds to play at for the next period of time, this would be one of them.”ALSO READ: Aaron Finch seeks winning formula as Australia reset ODI recordEngland’s preparation for the 2019 World Cup was notable for their belligerent attitude to wickets that did not favour their expansive strokeplay, with Morgan himself happy to defend his batsmen even after scorelines of 20 for 6 against South Africa at Lord’s, or 8 for 5 against Australia at Adelaide – the logic being that it was better to absorb the lessons while maintaining a positive attacking mindset, rather than let doubt seep into their game-plans on the odd surface that misbehaved.With India on the horizon, however – both for 2023 and for next year’s T20 World Cup – Morgan acknowledges that England will now need to be upfront about their adaptability.”Going away from what we’re strong at will do us some good for a period of time,” he said. “It allows us to focus on things that are our weaker side, so creating another dynamic well-rounded game in that manner is important. We need to get better at playing on those types of surfaces, because over the course of the last four-and-a-half years, we had to wait either to play in Cardiff, or Old Trafford, or go away on winter tours to experience [spinning] conditions.”It is probably a bigger challenge for our seamers than our batters, because our batters have gone through this for the last couple of years,” he added. “So hopefully we’ll learn more, and upskill what we need to do to get better at playing those types of pitches.”With Morgan himself now fit again after his finger dislocation during the T20Is, and Jason Roy restored to the top of the order following his side strain, England look set to field as many as nine of the 11 men who triumphed at Lord’s in that extraordinary World Cup final 14 months ago – and as the captain himself acknowledged, success on that scale creates a pressure to perform like nothing else.”I think the expectation outside of our own group is probably higher than it’s ever been,” Morgan said. “And it should be. We’re an incredibly talented group of guys and collectively if we perform together, we’re a hard side to beat.”I’d much rather go in with a weighted level of expectation than none at all. We’ve grown into being comfortable with that expectation over the last few years, and slowly it’s crept into our minds as well, just through levels of performance.”Eoin Morgan swings down the ground•Getty Images

However, speaking on his 34th birthday – a milestone that highlights England’s onus on succession planning in the coming months – Morgan acknowledged that there had been room for “huge improvements” during their 2-1 win over Australia in the T20Is, not least in the fielding department which he described as “second-rate”, particularly during their five-wicket defeat in the final fixture.The fact that Morgan himself missed that game through injury seemed to suggest that his continued presence as England’s chief motivator and tactician is pivotal to the team’s success. However, he insisted that no-one is “irreplaceable”, and that the close-knit circumstances of England’s bio-secure summer had made it even more apparent who are the leaders within England’s dressing-room.Morgan’s obvious successors within the white-ball squad are Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes – currently absent on compassionate leave – while Moeen Ali stepped in for the final T20I last week. With Joe Root, the Test captain, also back in the ODI squad, there is no shortage of senior players for England to lean on.”Jos operates in a different manner [to me],” Morgan said. “The energy that he exudes might come across more passionate and more vocal in the field. Same with Ben. Joe is probably a bit calm and more reserved as well. So you’ve different attributes that he might see at different stages, and we had a glimpse into what it might look like with Moeen as captain and Chris Jordan as his vice-captain.”One of the huge benefits of having the same group of 17 players together for an extended period of time is that the guys go through many different experiences together,” he added. “The longer that journey, different leaders evolve. Some guys stand up at different times, and recognising when they step into the game is important because it is an area that we’ve neglected over the years.””Towards the back end of the World Cup and definitely the semi-final and final, the guys who were leaders within our group stood up both vocally and performance-based when they needed to. So, the age-old saying that you don’t really think about the captaincy until you are given it, we’re trying to get rid of that stigma and build, not just one leader to be the next captain, but a group that will support that leader as well and drives things forward.”