The England captain has vowed to ‘move forward’ after another disappointing game for him and his team
In fairness to England, they were handed a brutal opening to their 2015 World Cup campaign. After opening up against one host, Australia, they then had to fly across to face the other, New Zealand.
And while New Zealand didn’t pummel England quite as badly as their Antipodean neighbours did, they weren’t far off. England only managed to score 123 against the New Zealand attack and then, thanks chiefly to an inspired Brendan McCullum, the Black Caps had the game sown up before the end of the 13th over, winning by eight wickets.
Captain Eoin Morgan’s recent form has come under serious scrutiny and at least he avoided a fourth consecutive duck in this game. However, on 17 runs, this great catch by Adam Milne had him on his way back to the sheds.
Morgan’s opposite number McCullum had a contrasting day, as he ran up the fastest ever one-day 50, taking just 18 balls to reach the milestone. He eventually was out for 77 off 25 balls.
Speaking to Sky afterwards, Morgan said: “Our first two games are the most difficult of the group, they were always going to be a tough start to a World Cup.
“From here we concentrate on simple things moving forward and hopefully get a win as soon as possible under our belt and gain some momentum from there.”
The two defeats leave England bottom of the table of Pool A but they are not out of yet. However, another defeat will probably see them in real bother. The margin for error is almost gone for Morgan’s men.
