With an eye on World T20, Morgan willing to explore 'strength in depth' against Pakistan

England have already established and showcased enormous depth in their white-ball set up by thrashing a full-strength Pakistan 3-0 in the just-concluded ODI series. The hosts had to field a completely new side in wake of the Covid-19 crisis in the camp that found all first-choice players in close contact.

It opened windows of opportunity for fringer players to showcase their offerings to the team management in absence of big players. Players such as Lewis Gregory, Brydon Carse, Saqib Mahmood took their opportunities with both hands and showed they can be as good as England have sought at the international level.

Now, even as all those big guns including the skipper Eoin Morgan are set to return in the T20 series after serving a period of isolation, the trend of providing opportunities to fringer players is set to be continued.

In the pre-series presser, Morgan asserted that the team management is willing to explore more options to understand the ‘strength in depth’ leading up to the ICC World T20 later this year in UAE. 

Morgan called the series against Pakistan as the last stop of trying people at various positions and roles in order to come at the best possible conclusion before selecting squad for the big event.

“Knowing what is ahead, we need to look a little bit more into strength in depth. You’ll see us giving opportunities and going through various little options in the next three games for possible injury replacements for certain players. The priority will be to give guys opportunities and we’ll be treating it as though it is our last chance to look at guys in various positions,” Morgan said.

There will be no dearth of opportunities for players as well with the likes of Ben Stokes, who will manage his finger injury, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran going away from the T20 set up to prepare for the Test series against India.

Morgan hailed the players for stepping up in the hour of need against Pakistan and said that the brand of cricket England have employed in the aftermath of a disastrous world cup campaign in 2015 is now being fully embraced by the players in domestic cricket.

“Guys recognise that opportunities are few and far between. But when they do come in, the method the team plays is starting to resonate with people around the country, which is great,” Morgan added.

The three-match long T20 series between England and Pakistan will start tonight in Nottingham with the other two scheduled to take place on July 18 and July 20.