The current England squad has been the most expressive in a long time and players are encouraged to be as brash and aggressive as they can on the field, limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan said yesterday as he prepares his side for the World Twenty20.
England have looked a completely different proposition in one-day internationals and Twenty20 cricket in the 12 months since their humiliating group stage exit at last year’s 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The team were then roundly criticised for being too old fashioned in their approach to short-format contests but Morgan’s youthful side have since displayed the freedom and exuberance England fans had craved for years.
“I would say, it’s the most expressive we’ve been in a long time. The evidence is the significant totals we have put with our bat,” the 29-year-old Ireland-born cricketer told reporters.
“I think we’ve scored 350 twice or three times and we’ve definitely chased it down once. I think we had six consecutive times scoring 300, which is a huge step for us. We’ve scored 400 once. And it’s no coincidence. We have a lot of talent within the side, we encourage our players to go out and be as brash and aggressive as they can and take the game to the opposition.”
England defeated Pakistan in a one-day series and three Twenty20 contests on the slow pitches in United Arab Emirates in November and were also impressive in defeat against South Africa in both formats last month.
All-rounder Ben Stokes, a chief exponent of England’s fearless cricket, assured the team will continue to play the same brand of cricket during the World Twenty20 in India. “I mean it’s worked. (coach) Trevor (Bayliss) and Morgan gave us that freedom and even (test captain Alistair) Cook in tests,” Stokes said.
“We are playing this attacking, positive brand we have probably been talking about the last two-three years but we have only started doing that in the last 12-18 months. It’s obviously worked for us, so why stop doing it? We got a bit a criticism in South Africa for the two (Twenty20) games we lost but we won six before that.”
Morgan said his players would probably be at a slight disadvantage for not playing in the Indian Premier League but hoped they could make up for it with the recent experience of touring the Middle East and Sri Lanka. “I think it (not playing IPL) just becomes a different challenge,” Morgan said, while picking hosts India as his favourites for the World Twenty20. “Not only have our guys not played the IPL a lot of our guys have never been to India. But we have guys who have toured Sri Lanka quite a lot, been on  a recent tour to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where we had a little bit of success.” England open their campaign against 2012 champions West Indies in Mumbai on March 16 before facing South Africa, Sri Lanka and a qualifier in Group 1 of the Super 10 stage. The top two sides will advance to the semi-finals.

Stokes urges IPL-style league for England


Mumbai: All-rounder Ben Stokes led calls among teammates yesterday for England to form its own franchise-based Twenty20 league, saying the pioneer of the game’s most popular format was now lagging behind its rivals.  While nearly all the other Test playing nations now have city-based T20 leagues featuring no more than eight teams, England’s T20 Blast is played by the 18 counties which compete in a parallel four-day championship.
Critics say the bloated format has led to a watering-down in quality and explains the tournament’s failure to attract as many big-name foreign stars as appear in India or Australia. T20 tournaments such as the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Australia’s Big Bash League are made up of city-based franchises such as the Delhi Daredevils and Sydney Sixers which frequently draw sell-out crowds.
The powerful Stokes, who had a stint playing for the Melbourne Renegades in the 2015 Big Bash League, told reporters in Mumbai that it was high time England rethought the structure of its domestic T20 competition. “England Twenty20 is far behind everywhere else. The other competitions attract the biggest players so we don’t get an opportunity to play against these guys whereas everywhere else over the world they do,” he said.
“England I think are well behind other teams in terms of experience so it would be nice to see something like that happen in England. I don’t know when it will happen if it ever does but I think it’s something that does need to happen ... It will give us a chance to be a more successful team, especially in these world competitions.”
Stokes was speaking at a press briefing given by the England team competing in the World T20 taking place in India over the next month. Although England won the tournament in 2010, they often struggle to make an impression in T20 cricket and are fifth in the world rankings.
Stokes’ teammate David Willey, who played for the Perth Scorchers in this year’s Big Bash League, said the quality of cricket in Australia had helped his development as a player. “The competition in the Big Bash was outstanding. The way the competition was run and the standard of cricket was fantastic,” he said.
“I think it’s a real good model for English cricket to use and I think the sooner that English cricket can go to that franchise system the better.”
T20 matches were first staged in England back in 2003 and it was another five years before the IPL was set up and went on to become cricket’s most lucrative tournament.