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| Eoin Morgan was dismissed for golden duck in Hobart |
England captain Eoin Morgan denied he was distracted by the
blackmail attempt against him in the lead-up to his side's comfortable defeat
in the triangular series match in Hobart.
Morgan
was dismissed for a first ball duck in the wake of revelations that a local man
had threatened to reveal details of a past relationship he had in Australia if
a substantial sum was not paid. But Morgan said he had been allowed to get on
with preparing for the match by the ECB.
"It
hasn't been distracting at all. I spoke with the ECB yesterday and again I was
very happy for them to deal with it and they told me just to focus on the
cricket 100% and I've done that. I was very comfortable with them looking after
the situation," Morgan said. "I'm happy it's all been cleared and
everything is over and I can get on with my cricket, which I managed to do
today."
Morgan
brushed off attempts to link his first ball duck to the blackmail attempt.
"No. I don't think it was easy coming in," he said. "The ball
was reverse swinging right throughout the innings. Jos Buttler came in after me
and found it difficult. I nicked one. It happens."
The
duck Morgan made was part of England's failure to build effectively on a
dominant platform after 40 overs - a tally of 303 for 8 was meagre reward for
the 244 for 2 compiled with 60 deliveries remaining. Morgan agreed his men had
to show more ambition, but also said they had seldom faced death bowling of the
standard produced by Australia after a more indifferent start with the new
balls.
"We
were very dominant in the first 40 overs and set ourselves up for a commanding
total," Morgan said. "Somewhere around 340-plus would have been the
score we were looking for but we didn't manage to get there. It is frustrating
but it's still very early in the trip and we are making strides.
"One
of the areas we'll look at again is those last ten overs against high-quality
death bowling. If we come up against that more often than not we'll learn as we
go along. Today is a learning curve for us. The sky's the limit batting first
and that's the atmosphere we want to create. The first 40 overs were the perfect
template about what we're all about."
There
was also a prediction from Morgan that more teams will be inclined to chase
during the looming World Cup, particularly if conditions continued to resemble
those found in the triangular series so far - swing and spin being minimal and
run-making less arduous than in other parts of the world.
"I
think the more cricket you play perhaps the more cynical you get and you'd
prefer to have direction about what you're doing as a batting unit," he
said. "You'll find sides will chase more often than not especially if the
ball doesn't reverse like it did today. If you play on the lush grounds with
drop in pitches then I think you will see people chase."
Meanwhile,
Mitchell Johnson will re-join Australia's ODI squad in Sydney on Saturday after
a period away from the team for personal reasons, rather than the hamstring
soreness he was said to be suffering from when withdrawn from the SCG Test
against India.
Not
even the players were informed of precisely why Johnson was away from the team,
and his absence eventually extended for a match longer than first suggested. It
was thought Johnson would return in time for Friday's match in Hobart, but he
will now be back with the squad for the Australia Day match against India in Sydney,
which has lost some edge for the hosts after victory at Bellerive Oval sent
them through to the final.
David
Warner will also be back, while Steven Smith is set to hand the captaincy reins
over to George Bailey, who has now served his one match suspension for a second
minor over rate offence within 12 months. Shane Watson's tight hamstring is on
the mend too, allowing Australia to have far closer to a full squad to pick
from after no fewer than three extra players had to be called in to Hobart.
"I
think Mitch is joining us in Sydney . . . George Bailey will be back and, as
far as I know, David Warner will be back as well," Smith said following
his latest unbeaten century. "I'm not really sure though. We'll see what
Rod Marsh, has to say, whether Warner needs more rest or not."
"For
us it's about trying to win every game we can. Momentum is a good thing in
limited-overs cricket and hopefully we can keep up this momentum and keep
playing some good cricket going into the final of the tri-series and then the
World Cup as well."
As
for his own sublime touch, Smith is old and wise enough to know that such
streaks cannot last forever. "It's all going well at the moment," he
said. "I know the game can change pretty quickly and I've got to try to
score as many runs as I can while I'm in this kind of form. I'm just really
satisfied we were able to chase down 304 tonight and win another game and get
ourselves into the tri-series final."
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