The focus is now on the T20 World Cup, claims Eoin Morgan

Having led England to their maiden World Cup earlier this year, Eoin Morgan has no plans of backing down. With a team brimming with talent and experience, the limited overs skipper is far from done and has his eyes set on the World T20 next year Down Under. The explosive batsman has in the past already won the tournament as a 23-year-old in 2010 under Paul Collingwood’s captaincy.

“Future for me, hopefully looks bright. We have an outstanding group of people. The focus is now on the T20 World Cup next year,” he was reported saying by Sportstar.

After a two-month break following a hectic summer comprising the World Cup and the Ashes, England will return to action with a five match T20 series in New Zealand. By October next year, for when the T20 World Cup is slated, they would have played T20 series against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan, with only the one against Proteas on foreign soil.

“Between now and then, we have 18 T20 games. We only have a handful of ODIs. So, every bit of our focus shifts to Australia, where the T20 World Cup is,” Morgan added.

England had failed to go past the group stages in the 2015 World Cup, winning only two of their six games and losing to Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. However, their fortunes soon turned around as they climbed the rankings and claimed the throne soon after the 2017 Champions Trophy in what has been a fruitful journey fuelled by hard work.

“It feels amazing. It really does. I still sometimes struggle to put into words. The work we have done in the last four years -- since the 2015 World Cup -- and the journey has been remarkable,” he said.

Having only won a solitary international tournament previously even though they are credited with inventing the game, the World Cup triumph has been seen as the heralding of a new era in English cricket.

“As a team, we started to create something where hopefully for the future, people started to think that we are competitive going into tournaments. It’s just not an one-off thing. Winning the World Cup gives everybody a huge boost. The nature and the fashion in which the final was played -- I think it’s brilliant for the sport. What sport needs sometimes is this, regardless of which sport it is. It’s fantastic for the game,” Morgan signed off.