Captain Eoin Morgan wants his team to keep up the pressure as they seek series win against Sri Lanka in fourth ODI
England warned to keep their focus
Eoin Morgan wants England to maintain their focus when they face Sri Lanka in the fourth game of the five-match One-Day International series against Sri Lanka at The Oval in London today.
England, 1-0 up in the series, and Sri Lanka played out a thrilling tie in the first ODI at Trent Bridge before the hosts stormed to a 10-wicket win in the second match of the series at Edgbaston. The third ODI, in Bristol, was hit by rain and ended in a no-result.
England still have work to do if they are to win the series, following their 2-0 victory in the preceding three-Test campaign, and they could face further frustration at The Oval if the rain forecast for south London arrives duly.
"It's certainly going to be one of the challenges over the next couple of games we play," said Morgan.
"With a lot of weather (rain) around, that is always a huge challenge that it doesn't become a distraction – and to switch on when we need to.
"We want to play as much cricket as we can, and I suppose (the weather) has halted a little bit of the momentum we've had. Tomorrow is about regaining that a little bit."
Many of Morgan's teammates were watching on TV as England's football team suffered a humiliating exit from Euro 2016 following a 2-1 defeat by Iceland in Nice on Monday. While attention now turns to a replacement for Roy Hodgson, who resigned as England manager on Monday, Morgan's team have shown that improvement can be planned after exiting a major tournament. England's cricketers suffered an embarrassing group-stage exit at last year's 50-over World Cup following a defeat by Bangladesh in Adelaide.
But with Trevor Bayliss replacing Peter Moores as coach, a new-look England side adopting an aggressive approach has enjoyed some notable successes in limited-overs cricket, including reaching the final of this year's World Twenty20.
"The learning experience we've had over the last 12 months, with the new group of players, has been so significant that there is almost a completely different team," said Morgan. "I suppose for us, it was going with a new method and a new group of players."