ICC World Cup 2019: “Loss Against Sri Lanka Hurt Us”: Eoin Morgan

The second semi-final of ICC World Cup 2019 between the defending champion Australia and the hosts England are all set to begin on July 11 at Edgbaston. Eoin Morgan led England are coming from a couple of successive wins while Australia lost their final game in the group stage to South Africa.

However, Australia finished the group league as the second team with 14 points from 9 games while England have 12 points from as many games. Both the team will try their hearts out to win the game and reach the final.

Although England registered wins in their last couple of games, they had faced losses against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Their loss against Sri Lanka made their qualification for the semi-finals in trouble. However, in the pre-match press conference, England captain Eoin Morgan shared they are more confident now.

“I think probably more confident than we were three games ago. I think we are probably a different team that played four games ago and three games ago,” he said.

“I think the loss against Sri Lanka hurt us. It was an overhang into the Lord’s game and then when we came here we managed to produce something similar to the cricket we have been playing over the last four years and that was really encouraging. We went to Durham to put in a better performance and improved again and tomorrow we will look to do the same,” Eoin Morgan further added.

The game is going to be an interesting one as both the teams have been in formidable form, be the batsmen or bowlers. While Australia openers David Warner, Aaron Finch have been dealing with centuries, England openers Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy are also not leaving any stone unturned to provide a flying start to their team.

While England’s Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler provides stability in the middle order, Australia’s Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell are also doing pretty good. Moreover, Mitchell Starc not only has become Australia’s trump card in the tournament but also the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 26 scalps in his name. Jofra Archer, Mark Wood are also among wickets.

Keeping their recent form in mind, it will be difficult to say which team will have the last laugh.