NZ vs ENG | Fielding is more of an attitude thing, believes Eoin Morgan
England put on a disappointing performance on the field in the second T20I as they were handed a 21-run loss by the Kiwis in Wellington. England skipper Eoin Morgan was very critical of his team's fielding and urged the players to step up while stressing on learning from mistakes.
After a dominant performance, in all three departments of the game, in the first T20I of the five-match series England failed to replicate it in the second encounter. The Three Lions put down as many as four catches in the match which they lost by 21 runs.
James Vince, who scored an impressive 59 in the first fixture, was a disappointment on the field in Wellington as he dropped a couple of easy ones and a tough one. David Malan also dropped a sitter while England vice-captain Sam Billings failed to hold on to a sharp one behind the stumps. England skipper Eoin Morgan was very vocal about the disappointing display of fielding.
"When you drop that amount of catches it's not a great reflection on the performance and the levels of fielding that we aspire to," ESPNCricinfo quoted Morgan as saying. "There were a couple of catches that went in the sun which made it look a lot worse but as regards our standard catches, we expect more.
"I think it's more of an attitude thing because there's such a short turnaround, the natural default of any player is to step back and not commit to a 50-50 chance or their mindset changes to go back in their shell. That's not what we want, we want guys continuing to attack the ball, find themselves in hot spots if they're good enough and if they drop catches, they drop catches. That's the nature of it."
Nonetheless, Morgan took the defeat positively as he urged his team to learn from their mistakes hailing it as a great way to develop in international cricket.
"We have to make mistakes," Morgan said. "If guys come in and smash it from the start and really find international cricket easy, I don't think that's a great opportunity given to guys.
"We want to see guys being pegged back and how they react from there. Chances will continue to come and opportunities will continue to come regardless of the result."
Chris Jordan was England's star of the night as he performed both with the bat and ball to put up a fight which at the end went in vain. Jordan ended up with figures of three for 23 as England restricted New Zealand to 176 before scoring an impressive 36 off only 19 balls to keep English hopes alive. Morgan heaped Jordan with praise as he believes that his quality and experience will both inspire and help the youngsters in the team.
"He was exceptional. One of the reasons we combine these new guys with experienced players is to have them out on the field doing what they do. Having CJ out there with his experience and his execution is outstanding. He's one of the best."