‘Hungry’ Morgan sets sights on T20 World Cup success for England

England captain Eoin Morgan says the hunger to lift trophies has not diminished in the wake of the his side’s 2019 World Cup triumph and has his eyes set on more silverware in the shortest form of the game in the coming years.

Morgan will lead England against South Africa at Newlands on Tuesday in their first one-day international since they claimed the World Cup in dramatic fashion at Lord’s in July, and he said the aim now is to make sure that was not a one-off success.

The tourists have rested Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler for the three match series against South Africa, two of their most potent weapons, but it is all part of the overall plan.

“Before the next (50-over) World Cup we have two T20 World Cups that we are eyeing, so this series against South Africa will allow us to build a broader squad so that in three or four years’ time we have a substantial group to select from, just like we did before this past World Cup,” Morgan told reporters on Monday.

The T20 World Cup will be played in Australia in October-November, with the next edition set for a year later in India.

“The next three World Cups will be the same, stick to the process by which we are trying to get better the whole time, and that includes younger guys coming through to test older guys who hold the positions at the moment,” he added.

Morgan, 33, said he hopes to play in both T20 global finals, but concedes helping England defend their 50-over title in 2023 is less certain.

“I haven’t looked that far ahead. I’m looking at the next two T20 World Cups and I feel I have enough to say I hope to be here for both,” he said.

“Often when you make a decision to stay on longer it’s taken out of your hands, so I just want to focus on the next two T20 tournaments.

“Coming back from the five T20 matches we played in New Zealand (in November), I felt physically and mentally very good, so I want to continue with that.”

Morgan added that the England team don’t dwell on the world champions tag, but that it is good to hear.

“We don’t call ourselves that. Everybody refers to us as that, which is awesome. But our goal was to win the World Cup, we managed to achieve that and it was an unbelievable feeling. It has given us the platform to build for next cycle,” he said.

Reuters