Dubai: England one-day skipper Eoin Morgan is non-committal about Ben Stokes being able to make the Ashes tour, but has no doubts that the tour will be a tough one. “There is still no clarification on Stokes, so I am not sure he is going or not. I think touring Australia is always tough. They are always a very good team in home conditions and it’s going to be a tough couple of months for the boys,” he said.
Speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of T10 league on Tuesday night, Morgan said: “Cricket should always be tough. It is a fantastic game that we all love and are passionate about. The international schedule at the moment is very busy and that is how it is and there is no aspect of anything I would like to change.
Morgan had guided England brilliantly in the recent Champions Trophy before Pakistan came from behind to win the trophy. He feels that tournament was indeed a learning experience for the players. “One of the things is that we look back at the Champions Trophy and see where we fell short. One of the huge positives from the Pakistan’s aspect of things is that they got to bowl reverse swing in both the semi-final and final against us and against India. We could not find an answer to it. Huge credit to the Pakistan team for going on to win the Champions Trophy.”
Looking ahead at the 2019 World Cup at home, Morgan said: “We are looking on to improve for the World Cup in 2019. I think throughout the Champions Trophy, particularly in the group stages, we played some of the best cricket we have played in the last two years through performances against Australia, New Zealand, a tough side like Bangladesh. I thought we were really on a roll to playing our best cricket. It is nice in a way and is a lesson we can learn. We certainly are a long way off from where we need to be in the World Cup and so we are working on various aspects of the game.”
Reverting to oncoming Ashes series, Morgan said: “Ashes is a bigger challenge when it is away from home. Given wherever it is, away from home, normally the home advantage is a big thing. Certainly when you go away from home and you play there (in Australia) it is a huge opportunity for guys to go and make a big impact on the Ashes away from home. There are some beautiful wickets there to bat on so hopefully, our guys can come up with good performance.”
What is the key factor to win in Australia? “You need to be better than Australians during that given time throughout Test matches. There will be certain periods of a Test match in which you need to take advantage of and when you get on top of the team you really need to make it count. If you don’t take advantage of being in a strong position, you may miss out. If we can manage to get ourselves in a strong position or if Australia is in a strong position, we have to make sure we strike the right form in order to take advantage,” he said.
