England To Test Bench Strength During Pakistan T20s: Morgan

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Jul, 2021 ) :England's limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan wants to give opportunities to fringe players and tweak their usual plans in this week's Twenty20 series against Pakistan saying they were treating as their "last chance" to look at options ahead of October's T20 World Cup.

The ICC requires teams to submit a provisional squad for world events a month before the start of each tournament, which means this is England's last T20 series before that deadline in mid-September. While they will have the chance to fine-tune in Bangladesh and Pakistan before the World Cup starts in the UAE in October, this is their final opportunity to test fringe players.

England are without a handful of first-choice players in the series: Ben Stokes was rushed back from his finger injury to captain the makeshift ODI squad last week and has been given a short break ahead of the India Test series, and while Jofra Archer is due to travel to the Ageas Bowl with the Sussex squad on Friday, he is not expected to make his return from elbow surgery this week as things stand. Reece Topley remains injured, while seven of the group who entered self-isolation after the third Sri Lanka ODI are either recovering from the virus, rested, or not selected.

"Not knowing what is ahead of ourselves, we need to look more into a little bit more into strength in depth," Morgan said. "You'll see us giving opportunities and going through various little options in the next three games for possible injury replacements for certain players within the group," espncricinfo.com quoted him as saying.

"100 percent there will be more rotation. The priority throughout the series will be to give guys opportunities and treating it as though it is our last chance to look at guys in various positions.

I still think the roles will be the same, but there will rotation throughout the squad." That could mean opportunities for Saqib Mahmood with the new ball, and for Lewis Gregory as a specialist finisher or a seam-bowling allrounder, following their impressive showings in the ODI leg of Pakistan's tour. Morgan was forced to watch that series on tv while in self-isolation but said that both players had furthered their chances for inclusion in the T20 side, and described England's approach to the series as a "compliment" to the group that had won the 2019 World Cup.

"They've done themselves the world of good, to be honest," Morgan said. "The one thing you look at when guys come in and out is a marked improvement from the time they first get the opportunity to the time the next opportunity arrives. The two guys mentioned and James Vince were outstanding.

"I think everybody within the group was extremely proud to watch them play like they did, simply because it's the biggest compliment you can pay to anybody who played in the World Cup group, and the way we've played in the last five years has had such an impact on the game. Guys recognise that opportunities are few and far between but when they do come, the method that the team plays is starting to resonate with people around the country, which is great.

"Over the last six years, with the amount of cricket we play, you don't get to enjoy the cricket as much as you'd like. But sitting back and watching the guys and the way the guys played was hugely satisfying. They played an exciting brand of cricket, they really enjoyed themselves, and the result came with that. It was all-round hugely beneficial," he said.