England skipper Eoin Morgan noted that the New Zealand team is quite strong and they’ll need to be at their best if they are to defeat the Black Caps. The two sides will face off in the first semifinal on Wednesday at the Abu Dhabi stadium.
Ahead of the clash, Morgan explained that the squad is really excited to play the knockout stages, especially after the way they dominated four out of the five games in the Super 12 stage. Their only loss came against South Africa in their final match.
“I would not say [we are] strong favorites. New Zealand has a full-strength squad. Our guys are extremely excited about the challenge of facing New Zealand. We need to play good cricket to beat them.“
“We cannot wait, it is a big achievement that we came out of our group and topped the table in the way we did, now it is all about producing the best game. We know how good and consistent New Zealand has been. They have always been extremely competitive, they are always around the semifinals,” Morgan said in a virtual pre-match press conference.
Eoin Morgan praises the head coach and support staff for creating a positive environment
Eoin Morgan went on to commend the work of the head coach, Chris Silverwood, and the team management in building an excellent dressing room atmosphere that has helped them be in a positive state of mind.
“It is a really good compliment for the changing room to all of the players more so to the head coach and the support staff who have created an environment where all the players come in and thrive in it. We have always thought about having great depth within our squad and as a whole, there have been instances where have to put out replacement teams but I think in doing so, you can have 30-40 players in domestic setup who can play international cricket but if the right environment isn’t there, it doesn’t matter which eleven you pick, they would not be able to perform,” Morgan added.
Apart from Jason Roy’s injury issues, England should have a clean bill of health heading into the semifinal against the Kiwis.