England white-ball captain Eoin Morgan has admitted that he does not know about the tourists best possible playing XI ahead of his side’ three-match T20I series opener against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town.
For the first time this year, England has assembled a full-strength squad for the T20I series in the rainbow nation and Morgan admitted that there are around seven-eight strong candidates to stake their claim in the first-choice XI.
The 50-over World Cup-winning captain stressed the need of identifying their top six or seven batsmen and assigning them roles that would suit them as well as the team.
“We don’t know our best XI yet. There are probably seven or eight guys who are strong candidates to be in the first XI. But with a full-strength squad here there is so much to discuss around team selection,” Eoin Morgan was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“To start with, you need to try and figure out who your best six or seven batsmen are, then try and get them in the roles that best suit them and the team, and that gives you the best chance of winning the games.” he added.
‘We will probably need the option of two spinners’- Eoin Morgan
England (Credits: Twitter)
With Ben Stokes set to claim one all-rounder spot, England will have a choice to make as to whether they pick the seam-bowling all-rounder in Sam Curran or spin-bowling all-rounder, Moeen Ali.
On current form, Sam Curran should be a lock in the playing 11, but with the T20 World Cup set to take place on spin-friendly tracks of India next year, Eoin Morgan stressed the need of having two spinners in the playing 11.
“Looking ahead to the World Cup we will probably need the option of two spinners. Then again, if we have the luxury of two all-rounders in the side (in these conditions) in Ben and Sam, that is also huge,” Eoin Morgan said.
“Winning at the moment would be great, but it is more important that we get the players’ roles right and they get comfortable in them. Then the results will look after themselves.” he added.
The first T20I of the three-match series between England and hosts South Africa will take place on November 27.
