CT 2017: I don't think there was any home advantage, says Eoin Morgan

Team England were being tipped as the team to beat in the Champions Trophy. In the all-important game at Cardiff, the big semi-final, the Pakistani team did the unthinkable to knock out the English side from the tournament. English skipper Eoin Morgan still held his head high with the way things turned out for them in the tournament. Leading into the game, the only unbeaten side in the competition was England.

They won all their games in the group stages. The defeat against Pakistan was an absolute shocker for the reason that they were the favorites to steam roll the men in green. Reflecting back on the game, skipper Eoin Morgan noted that his side had no home advantage whatsoever. He cited adapting to Cardiff after having played at Edgbaston was a tough ask.

“I don’t think there was any home advantage. We knew that we were going to play on a used wicket at some stage in this tournament. Having watched the game against Sri Lanka, we actually didn’t think it was that bad. But certainly today, coming from Edgbaston, it was obviously a big jump in pace and bounce, and too much of an ask for us to adjust to, really,” quoted Eoin Morgan.

“We left ourselves short adapting to conditions. It’s a big frustration because I think we’ve played some great cricket in this tournament and we weren’t anywhere close to it today. Credit to Pakistan, they played brilliantly,”he added further.

When asked how the opposition side managed to adapt to the conditions, Morgan remarked that they had played on the surface before. He quoted, “I think the explanation is they played two days ago on it.”

Crediting the opposition

Rueing the fact that the team failed to get any partnerships, Eoin Morgan credited the Pakistani bowlers at the same time. He credited them for having adapted to the conditions very well. Also, the fact that they were always playing the catching game kept them at bay throughout the game.

“Every partnership we had struggled to take initiative to the Pakistan bowlers. I thought they bowled really well. They adjusted to conditions extremely well, and the wicket was obviously slow and low and hard to get away to start with. Every partnership we had started behind the rate, which put us under the pump a little bit, and none of our batsmen seemed to get away. I felt like we were trying to take a positive option against them, but the conditions didn’t allow us to do that,” the English skipper remarked.

The bigger picture

On the brighter side, Eoin Morgan took pride in the way England ended up being the group toppers. He conceded that the team has evolved a great deal in bringing an aggressive brand of cricket to the fore. He believes that the team is surely moving in the right direction with the entertaining game that they are playing.

“One of the huge contributing factors towards topping our table and playing very good cricket in the group stages is that we’ve stayed true to what we believe in and what’s worked for us the last couple of years, and I think that’s the continued formula for the future. I think it will have to evolve in whatever manner the game does over the next two years in the lead-in to the World Cup, but certainly, I think we’re moving in the right direction,” he conceded.